{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O39936"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O39936/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2015HU3247/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2015HU3247/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2015HU3247","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2015HU3248","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2015HU3249","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2015HU3250","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2015HU3251","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2015HU3252","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2015HU3253","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2015HU3254","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2015HU3255","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O39936/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O39936","accessionNumber":"110-1887","objectType":"Box","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"This ornate box was probably intended as a wedding or engagement present. From about 1350, it became customary throughout Italy, for young men to give their fiancées boxes decorated on the theme of love or marriage. The lid of the box is inscribed ‘amor vincit omnia’ (Love conquers everything) and the sides are decorated with processions of musicians and bearers of gifts, such as might have appeared at a wedding at this time. Boxes made in about 1500, as this one was, were commonly decorated with a scented white lead-based material called <i>pastiglia</i> moulded with figures and motifs, but on this example, plain moulded gesso has been used, imitating carved stone. This technique is very rarely seen.","physicalDescription":"Coffret of wood, oblong with applied ornament in gesso duro painted and gilt. All around the body are four processional groups of men and women, some conversing, some playing musical instruments and others carrying gifts, at the angles are balustrade ornament. On the lid is an imbricated pattern with heraldic shields at the corners and a label with the words 'omnia vincit amor'.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"gesso","id":"AAT14952"},{"text":"wood","id":"AAT11914"},{"text":"gold leaf","id":"x33207"}],"techniques":[{"text":"gilding","id":"AAT53789"},{"text":"moulding","id":"AAT53134"},{"text":"painting","id":"x30598"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Wood, with applied gesso duro ornament, painted and gilt","categories":[{"text":"Containers","id":"THES48972"},{"text":"Woodwork","id":"THES48877"},{"text":"Medieval and renaissance","id":"THES271264"}],"styles":[{"text":"Renaissance","id":"AAT21140"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"FWK","id":"THES48597"},"images":["2015HU3247","2015HU3248","2015HU3249","2015HU3250","2015HU3251","2015HU3252","2015HU3253","2015HU3254","2015HU3255"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"005","id":"THES302427"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"coffret","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Italy","id":"x28927"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"15th century","earliest":"1400-01-01","latest":"1500-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by J.P. Heseltine","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"6.625","unit":"in","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Length","value":"10.875","unit":"in","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"5.625","unit":"in","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"AMOR VINCIT OMNIA","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"LOVE CONQUERS ALL","transliteration":"","type":"","note":""}],"objectHistory":"PASTIGLIA BOXES\r\nGilt <i>pastiglia</i> boxes were mostly made in Venice and Ferrara from about 1480 until 1550. <i>Pastiglia</i> or <i>pasta</i> is the name given to white lead paste, bound with egg white. This was often scented and described in contemporary inventories as <i>pasta di muschio</i> (musk paste). The <i>pastiglia</i> figures and motifs were shaped with a lead mould and then glued to the gilt surface of the box - hence their frequent recurrence on other boxes. The boxes are decorated with legends of Ancient Rome and the scenes copied from woodcuts such as Jacobus Argentoratensis' <i>Triumph of Caesar</i> (Venice, 1504) or illustrations of Livy's <i>Roman History</i>.\r\n(Label text, circa 2000, from old Medieval & Renaissance Galleries)","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Coffret; Italian, 15th century","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"Unique","id":"THES48864"},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"musicians","id":"AAT25666"},{"text":"festivities","id":"x38749"},{"text":"gifts","id":"AAT138913"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"<i>Above</i>\r\nCASKET inscribed 'Omnia vincit Amor'\r\nAbout 1500\r\n\r\nThis casket is decorated in gesso relief, a form of plaster, instead of the more usual white-lead pastiglia. The images of processions and the motto 'love conquers all' suggest that it was a love token. But it was probably not a wedding present, as these usually carried the arms of both families. The four identical coats of arms here are unidentified.\r\n\r\nItaly\r\n\r\nWood, gilded and painted, with moulded relief in gesso\r\n\r\nInscribed in Latin. 'Love conquers all'\r\n\r\nMuseum no. 110-1887 \r\nGiven by J.P. Heseltine","date":{"text":"2008","earliest":"2008-01-01","latest":"2008-12-31"}},{"text":"CASKETS\r\n\r\nIn the 15th and 16th centuries most people stored small belongings in a casket (cassetta) rather than drawers. Despite their locks, these caskets are unlikely to have contained valuables, as their light wooden frames and delicate ornament (white lead mixed with egg, called pastiglia) are not secure. Instead, they probably held trinkets or toiletries such as tooth and ear picks.","date":{"text":"2008","earliest":"2008-01-01","latest":"2008-12-31"}},{"text":"BOX (<i>Cassetta</i>)\r\nGiltwood painted and decorated with moulded reliefs in gesso\r\nInscribed 'OMNIA VINCIT AMOR' (Love conquers all)\r\nITALIAN; about 1500\r\n110-1887\r\nGiven by J P Heseltine\r\n\r\nPastiglia relief decoration was usually made of gesso or white lead mixed with egg. It was sometimes scented with musk when used for articles such as this which were associated with the toilette.","date":{"text":"Pre-2006","earliest":"2006-01-01","latest":"2006-12-31"}}],"partNumbers":["110-1887"],"accessionNumberNum":"110","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1887,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LT9731","2021MW3453"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-08-19","recordCreationDate":"2000-05-26","availableToBook":true}}