A HEXAGONAL CASKET, WORKSHOP OF BALDASSARRE DEGLI EMBRIACHI, LATE 14TH CENTURY HEXAGONAL CASKET, WORKSHOP OF BALDASSARRE DEGLI EMBRIACHI, LATE 14TH CENTURY made of bone, horn and various woods, hexagonal shaped body with 19th century reworkings, surmounted by a prismatic lid covered with a pleasing inlay of interlace motifs within a rhomboid frame and closed at the top by a flattened knob, decorated on the underside by a band of horizontal plaques carved with the usual motif of naked genii against a background of rose leaves, which on the front side support two shields on which were painted the insignia of the betrothed. The body of the box is covered on the six faces with vertical plaques that follow one another without interruption of continuity, interspersed, however, at the corners by figures with clubs and shields, narrating the Story of Paris, here told through the main episodes (Hecuba entrusting her newborn child to the shepherd, the bull fight, the crowning of the bull, the apple of discord). For a similar iconographic choice, one may recall a casket, now transformed into a reliquary, kept in the treasure of Santa Maria Maggiore in Laurino; 40x33.5x28 cm. Comparative literature L. Martini (ed.), "Bottega degli Embriachi". Cofanetti e cassettine tra Gotico e Rinascimento , exhibition cat., Brescia 2001, pp. 32-35 n. 2; M. Tomasi, Ivory monuments. I dossali degli Embriachi e i loro committenti , Pisa 2010, pp. 83-89, p. 398 n. 12 BRIDAL CASKETS FOR THE BRIDE Made by gluing carved and partially painted strips of bone onto a wooden structure, partly covered with bands of marquetry with geometric motifs using wood, bone and horn, the caskets were manufactured in various sizes and formats. Specimens with an octagonal or, as in our case, hexagonal base mostly feature high-quality carving and are of considerable size, with a diameter of thirty or forty centimetres and an equivalent height. On the cusped lid appear now figures of virtues on thrones, now a band of rose leaves against which stand out naked, winged putti usually holding two shields, originally intended to hold the arms of the two spouses. On the sides of the more elaborate caskets are sculpted episodes of stories taken from fourteenth-century poems and novels in the vernacular, sometimes re-elaborating ancient myths; each casket always presents a unitary and complete narrative, divided into several episodes, divided at the corners by panels with men armed with shields and mace, whose protagonists are heroes from ancient myths, such as the Story of Jason, the Story of Pyramus and Thisbe, or, like the one presented here, the Story of Paris. The account books and reminiscences of 14th and 15th century Tuscan merchants, suntuary laws and novels of the time allow us to reconstruct the use and function of these chests. The coffer was donated, at least in Tuscany, by the fiancé to the betrothed when the two began to get to know each other, after the families had already defined the marriage arrangements, and before the couple exchanged wedding vows before a notary, on the wedding day. It was customary to send the jewel-laden casket by way of a young messenger, sometimes accompanied by an auspicious procession of maidens and maidens, which was then used by the women to store their jewellery and letters. In this context, the stories carved on the sides of the chests embodied messages and ideals that the fiancé proposed to his future partner: they celebrated feminine beauty and male acumen (Paris), masculine heroism and fidelity (Jason), eternal and invincible love (Pyramus and Thisbe), and so on.