Sumptuously ornamented chests called cassoni played an important role in the wedding rituals of Medieval Italy. Between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries, a woman's right to inherit from her parents and her husband diminished as society became more patriarchal. Accordingly, the dowry, the financial allotment she was given by her family on her marriage, increased in importance. In theory it was hers, but in reality the dowry was administered by her husband, who assumed responsibility to increase its value. Before the wedding, one or two pairs of chests were ordered and delivered to the bride's house, where they were filled with her marriage portion. If, as was often the case, the bride was escorted in a formal procession from her parents' house to the bridegroom's residence, the cassoni were carried along as testimony to the wealth of the two families and the bond between them. When ordered in pairs, the chests could be decorated with the coats of arms of both houses. At princely weddings, the dowry might fill many cassoni of different sizes and styles of decoration. The bridal procession of Isabella d'Este (1474—1539) in 1490 included no fewer than thirteen chests, which the Ferrarese court artist Ercole de' Roberti (ca. 1450–1496) had painted and also decorated with gold purchased in Venice.
Chests constituted a group of all-purpose furniture which were most popular in homes in the Medieval to 16th century interiors. They differed in shape, size, and type of ornamentation, as well as in purpose. They were usually used for storing various kinds of objects. Apart from bedclothes, tablecloths, or dresses, they were used for storing books, silverware and fabrics. Some of them had special compartments to facilitate arranging and finding of small objects. In bedrooms, they were placed near the bed or at the wall, and they were used as seats, instead of chairs and benches. The higher ones served as tables, and the richly ornamented ones decorated interiors. The chest was also an important element of the wedding ceremony. They were commissioned specifically on this occasion, decorated with paintings and gilding, bearing coats of arms of both families, and used for storing the dowry. They were carried through the streets of the town, in a kind of procession, from the bride's family house to the house of her husband.
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You can adjust the intensity of the shadows beneath the chest by selecting the face of the shadow and lowering the transparency to your liking.
The "Chapel Royal - Full Pack" contains the regular chest as well as the chest with the tablecloth on top.
Land impact is 1 for every size below the 0.85m of height.
Number of triangles: 3796
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