16th Century Decorative Boxes

An extraordinarily rare and visually striking 16th-century Venetian iron treasure coffer, showcasing the height of Renaissance artistry and engineering. Crafted in the early to mid-1...

Hostiary. Bronze. 16th century. A circular, tubular bronze box with a finial lid, to which a piece of tubing is attached, forming a press for the interior of the case. It features a...

The soft, matte texture and eroded wear of this petite porcelain box suggest it spent many years submerged in saltwater, likely excavated from a sunken trade ship carrying ceramic ex...

Elegant solid walnut small box, entirely hand-carved. The rectangular chest features an opening top, ideal for storing objects. The front, back, and sides are decorated with geometri...

A fine and unusual Japanese black lacquer and mother of pearl inlaid box, Momoyama Period, 16th century, Japan. The large box and cover featu...

A large Japanese Namban lacquer arqueta coffer for the Portuguese market Kyoto, Momoyama-period, late 16th century In Hinoki cypress lacquered in ...

The soft, matte texture and eroded wear of this petite porcelain box suggest it spent many years submerged in saltwater, likely excavated from a sunken trade ship carrying ceramic ex...

The soft, matte texture and eroded wear of this petite porcelain box suggest it spent many years submerged in saltwater, likely excavated from a sunken trade ship carrying ceramic ex...

The soft, matte texture and eroded wear of this petite porcelain box suggest the it spent many years submerged in saltwater, likely excavated from a sunken trade ship carrying cerami...

The soft, matte texture and eroded wear of this petite porcelain box suggest it spent many years submerged in saltwater, likely excavated from a sunken trade ship carrying ceramic ex...

The soft, matte texture and eroded wear of this petite porcelain box suggest it spent many years submerged in saltwater, likely excavated from a sunken trade ship carrying ceramic ex...

Hispano-Moresque Mudéjar Bone-Inlaid Walnut Chest
 Spain, 16th–17th century 
Walnut, bone inlay, iron fittings
 44.5 × 30.5 × 18 cm This rectangular walnut chest, richly ornamented ...

Impressive wrought iron tabletop safe with engraved decoration and original patina. This type of safe was commonly used in the 16th and 17th centuries to hold valuables, alms, or doc...

The soft, matte texture and eroded wear of this petite porcelain box suggest the it spent many years submerged in saltwater, likely excavated from a sunken trade ship carrying cerami...

Chest. Carved wood, metal. Spanish school, 16th century. Rectangular casket with a flat lid decorated on the outside with a series of figurative reliefs in a symmetrical arrangemen...

Superb late 16th century signed colonial Japanese Namban export lacquer coffer Momoyama period, late 16th/early 17th century, inscribed 'Arisato' on the bottom H. 30.5 x W. 43...

Important Renaissance Medical Box. Spanish Or Italian Workshop, Around 1550 Renaissance Medical Casket with stepped lid and vaulted flanked dome. Polychro...

The soft, matte texture and eroded wear of this petite porcelain box suggest the it spent many years submerged in saltwater, likely excavated from a sunken trade ship carrying cerami...

The soft, matte texture and eroded wear of this petite porcelain box suggest it spent many years submerged in saltwater, likely excavated from a sunken trade ship carrying ceramic ex...

The soft, matte texture and eroded wear of this petite porcelain box suggest it spent many years submerged in saltwater, likely excavated from a sunken trade ship carrying ceramic ex...

A magnificent antique fall-front box with scarce Medieval period bronze lockplate and hasp attributed to Jacopo and Lodovico del Duca. Featuring an important Lockplate and Hasp designed circa 1570, exact date of manufacture unknown, attributed to the late 16th century Roman foundry of Jacopo 1520-1604) and Ludovico (1551-1601) del Duca, with no apparent signatures or hallmarks which is typical of the era, but we did not remove it and inspect the back. Boxes such as this hand various uses but were frequently used by merchants as a writing box - slope during travel and trade, as a small coffer - strong box for storing important documents, money and valuables, as well as a jewelry casket. This hand-crafted European drop-front box dates to the late 19th century, signed L'PUPLET, adorned with a significantly older Italian fine quality cast bronze lockplate with intricate Renaissance era reliefs, including figures, coat-of-arms, and elongated hasp, mounted on a chest of drawers form solid wooden case, wrapped in exotic Japanesque embossed and gilded metallic paper, having a locking fall-front panel with original key included, opening to reveal three interior drawers, all lined in red velvet. circa 1875 The visually striking textured wallpaper covering the box's exterior displays bamboo, birds, and flowers in the oriental Japanesque taste popular in Europe in the 1860s and 1870s following the forced reopening of foreign trade with Japan in 1858 and the ensuing Japonisme craze. To the interior of the fall front panel is a gilt circular stamp with the somewhat obscured name of the workshop or store (likely) "L'PUPLET" and the city "Burxelles" which is in Brussels, indicating the box was likely made or retailed there. Marks to box: L'PUPLET, BRUXELLES Inscription: 13, 14, 15 (Interior drawers inscribed on the verso of their backboards in script from top to bottom, respectively) Provenance / Acquisition: The origin of the elaborate lockplate with hasp on the front of the piece is more intriguing. At least 76 lockplates of this design have been recorded in major museums, private collections, and in the antiques trade across the Western World. For example, lockplates of this pattern are in the collections of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the State Museum of Prussian Cultural Heritage in Berlin, the Museum Cicico in Bologna, The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Dallas Museum of Art in Texas, the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, the Museo di Palazzo Venezia in Rome, the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.[1] Specialists in Renaissance bronzes, especially Charles Avery...

The soft, matte texture and eroded wear of this petite porcelain box suggest it spent many years submerged in saltwater, likely excavated from a sunken trade ship carrying ceramic ex...

Spanish Renaissance casket, 16th century In carved, polychrome and gilded wood decorated with a vase with horns of plenty, heads of cherubs and fruits. In the lock a shield with two ...

Small box with opening top, slightly convex urn front with shaped shelf support, decorated on the front with carved tablet, while the rest of the object is simply painted. The front started with four pilasters that create three reserves, the two lateral pilasters have two twisted columns on a blue background, the central pilasters are instead painted with gold candelabra...

Mudejar-style chest. Spain, circa 1500. Wood and leather. A chest with a wooden core and leather lining. The leather has been embossed with stylised vegetal motifs on both sides, i...