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Source Description
This box, carved and tooled with an overall vegetal motif, is mounted with iron bands which have openings for straps. Messenger boxes were bound like this for added security. Once locked and sealed, the box could have been strapped onto a saddle.The leather was boiled ("cuir boulli" in French) to be made malleable enough to be fitted over a form (here a wooden box) and stamped more easily.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
17647
label
Messenger Box
core
obj
dtoType
object
citationUrl
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
17647
sourceUrl
contentType
object
stage
normalized
title
Messenger Box
description
This box, carved and tooled with an overall vegetal motif, is mounted with iron bands which have openings for straps. Messenger boxes were bound like this for added security. Once locked and sealed, the box could have been strapped onto a saddle.The leather was boiled ("cuir boulli" in French) to be made malleable enough to be fitted over a form (here a wooden box) and stamped more easily.
provenance
Léon Gruel, Paris; Henry Walters, Baltimore, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
date
ca. 1420-1440 (Late Medieval)
citationUrl
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
Leather
boxes (containers)
imageCount
1
pageCount
1
source
import
dimensions
units
cm
width
10.1
height
26
depth
12.1
dimensionsRaw
4 x 10 1/4 x 4 3/4 in. (10.1 x 26 x 12.1 cm)
Source extras
cul
Medieval European
style
Gothic
med
leather over wood, wrought iron
creator_ids
6211
collection_ids
REN
exhibition_ids
none
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
d44bd21098c91614