Footnotes

• This type of lock-plate and hasp is fascinating on account of the fact that on the tip of the hasp there is a shield of arms, these provide clues as to the identities of the families that commissioned them. It has become apparent in the course of research that they were made in Rome, in a bronze-foundry that was adept at 'customising' the hasps with the impaled arms of individual married couples. From the dates of marriages of several of the couples an average date of around 1585-1600 emerges. During this time span, the strongest candidate for the production is the foundry of Jacopo (c. 1520-1604) and Ludovico (fl. 1551-1601) del Duca, whose other, more important, activities have recently been published (J. Montagu, Gold, Silver and Bronze, Metal Sculpture of the Roman Baroque, New Haven / London, 1996, pp. 19-28, figs. 30-35).
  
  This may have been a cheaper expedient than commissioning a woodcarver to produce the heavy, domestic wedding cassoni that were then fashionable, with the coats-of-arms of the newly-wed couple carved separately at opposite ends of the piece of furniture. These lock-plates, enlivened by gilding, provided the same heraldic and dynastic information, but were applied to lighter, travelling cassoni.
  
  
  A similar lock-plate and hasp sold in these rooms, 15 April 2008, lot 1 (£14,800).
  Another similar example can be seen in the Rjiksmuseum, Amsterdam, inv. 14348.
  
  Literature:
  Charles Avery, "Fontainebleau, Milan, or Rome? A Mannerist Bronze Lockplate and Hasp", in Charles Avery, Studies in Italian Sculpture, London, 2001, p. 382, "New Entries", no. 44, fig. 21.
  Onno ter Kuile 'Koper & Brons' Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, 1986, no. 332.

---

Category: Furniture / European Furniture and Works of Art

---

Auction terms and conditions