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Workshop of the Embriachi family - Bridal Casket with Scenes from the Life of Paris - Walters 71242 (2)

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Workshop of the Embriachi family - Bridal Casket with Scenes from the Life of Paris - Walters 71242 (2)

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Summary

The workshop of the Embriachi family in Venice produced a variety of luxury objects decorated with carved plaques of bone and inlays of stained wood, bone, and horn. The scenes are taken from classical literature. Depicted here are incidents from the life of the Trojan prince Paris: his childhood abandonment and rescue is combined with the more familiar stories of Paris' judgment of the goddesses Hera, Aphrodite, and Athena and his abduction of Helen, the incident which caused the Trojan war.
Such caskets were often given to a lady upon marriage to hold her bridal jewels. The empty shields on the lid would have been painted with the coats of arms of the woman and her husband. They may have worn off over time.

Bone carving encompasses the acts of creating art, tools, and other goods by carving animal bones, antlers, and horns. It can result in the ornamentation of a bone or the creation of a distinct object. Bone carving has been practiced by a variety of world cultures, sometimes as a cheaper, and recently a legal, substitute for ivory carving. It was important in prehistoric art, with notable figures like the Swimming Reindeer, made of antler, and many of the Venus figurines.

date_range

Date

1000 - 1450
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Source

Walters Art Museum
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Copyright info

http://purl.org/thewalters/rights/standard

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