"DANTE'S CHEST" - LARGE FEUDAL CHEST FROM A CASTLE FROM THE LATE 13TH CENTURY - INTERNATIONAL MUSEUM MASTERPIECE

"DANTE'S CHEST" LARGE FEUDAL CHEST FROM A CASTLE FROM THE LATE 13TH CENTURY A UNIQUE INTERNATIONAL MUSEUM MASTERPIECE DANTE'S CHEST "EXTRAORDINARY FEUDAL CHEST FROM A CASTLE FROM THE LATE 13TH CENTURY" - 13th century A UNIQUE MASTERPIECE IN THE WORLD Description and historical notes Made of solid, carved and sculpted walnut wood. Original ironwork from the period. The entire front is deeply carved and enclosed on both sides by "organ pipes" (vertical straight carvings) that symbolize the union between man and woman. Exceptional state of preservation, originality and authenticity. The piece of furniture, certainly a wedding chest, represents a very rare example of medieval wooden artifact of feudal origin and is attributable, as a construction period, to the last two decades of the 1200s (13th century). The function of the piece of furniture was mainly to contain wedding trousseaus and precious linen, a more protected alternative to the niches in the walls that in those times were mainly used to store objects, furnishings and linen. This shows how furniture with these architectural lines in the shape of a rectangular parallelepiped absolutely represents the primogeniture of wooden artifacts of any era. They were also called "dowry coffers" when they were carved, as in our case, with the coats of arms of two families that were about to contract (or had contracted) marriage. A centuries-old oral tradition has accompanied the history of this very ancient chest to the present day. It has miraculously crossed the barriers of time, thus becoming a historical testimony of remote eras. The tradition suggests that it was built on the occasion of the engagement, which took place after 1288, between Malatestino Malatesta, known as Tino (firstborn in second marriage of Giovanni, known as Gianciotto Malatesta, and Ginevra, daughter of Tibaldello dei Zambrasi, known as Zambrasina) and Agnese dei Duchi di Montefeltro. Gianciotto Malatesta had Paolo and Francesca killed and was defined in 1373 by Benvenuto Rambaldi da Imola (first critical commentator of Dante's Divine Comedy) as "a man with a deformed body but with a courageous and fierce soul (audax et ferox)". In the center of the front is carved the ancient coat of arms of the Malatesta (or Malatesti) with the three moor heads that are to be linked to the historical iconography of this very famous feudal family from Rimini which was believed to be a direct descendant of the famous leader Scipione l'Africano. The archaic coat of arms of the Malatesta, still visible in some benches of the Malatestiana Library of Cesena, consisted of a shield on which stood, on a green background, three heads of Hamitic or Moorish type, in some cases individually and in others doubled and opposed. Above two arches of stone portals of what remains of the Malatesta fortress of Fossombrone (near Pesaro-Urbino) is carved the coat of arms of the Malatesta, who seized the castle at the beginning of the fourteenth century, with the shield in which the three Moorish heads depicted in our chest are enclosed. At the beginning of the fifteenth century, the Malatesta coat of arms was modified into the universally known one of the elephant with the rose. The traditional origin of the Malatesta from the aforementioned Scipione l'Africano fully justifies the use in the chest of some decorations and symbolisms of Moorish origin and type which, combined with an evident similarity in the carving technique, brings the chest closer to the famous "chest of Terracina" (now kept in the museum of Palazzo Venezia in Rome) dating back to the 12th century and considered the first absolute example of "Italian furniture". On either side of the Malatesta coat of arms are carved the double-headed eagles that represent the coat of arms of the Dukes of Montefeltro, another feudal family of remarkable tradition and historical importance. In addition to these easily identifiable coats of arms, on the front of the chest we see represented, to symbolize strength, belligerence and power, the Minotaur with the drawn sword and the eagle above the horse. These symbols of dominion are enclosed within carved arches like the aforementioned "chest from Terracina". After various vicissitudes, the chest arrives in the Romagna region of Ravenna following various feudal families, often fighting among themselves but in some cases also allied with the neighboring peoples of Tuscany to fight distant invaders. In the period following the battle of Zagonara (July 1424) near Lugo di Romagna, which saw Carlo dei Malatesta with other Romagnoli allied with the Florentines against the Milanese, the chest came to a family of feudal origin who lived in a territory of the so-called "Romagna-Tuscany" between Casola Valsenio and Brisighella. They are the bellicose Ceroni, representatives of that "gens Ceronia" which built in the 14th century a fortified tower-house in Ceruno, near Casola Valsenio, still visible even if heavily remodeled. From that moment on, the furniture will no longer leave the Romagna territory and will reach us with its load of memories linked to harsh and ancient events. This true "incunabulum" of Italian cabinet-making therefore represents a "piece of history" miraculously survived to this day. DANTE ALIGHIERI, whose Seventh Centenary of death falls this year (2021), was ALIVE when this incredible piece of furniture was built! A unique wooden artifact of museum value in the world. Measurements: Height cm. 62.0 Width cm. 165.0 Depth cm. 65.0 Emilia Romagna - End of the 1200s (13th century) ABSOLUTELY CONFIDENTIAL NEGOTIATIONS - WORK FOR MAJOR INVESTMENT Website. www.palazzodelbuonsignore.com