A cherry wood box with the Habsburg coat-of-arms
Solid cherry wood (prunus mahaleb, bois de Sainte Lucie) with later brass plated iron mountings. Oblong box with a protruding lid and base. The four outer faces and the lid decorated with relief tendrils and the double-headed eagle of the Holy Roman Empire in a quatrefoil cartouche. A crack in the front left of the lid, minor dents to the lower edge. H 7.3, W 31.7, D 24.5 cm.
Lorraine / Nancy, attributed to the workshop of César Bagard, last quarter 17th century.
The wood known as "Bois de Sainte Lucie" comes from the forest surrounding a chapel dedicated to Saint Lucy located in Sampigny on the Meuse River near Nancy, south of Verdun. These very special trees, called mahareb cherries of Sainte Lucie, grow only in this specific geographical area. The wood of this tree, which can grow up to 8 meters high, is of such excellent quality and possesses such a strikingly beautiful golden-red colour that many artisans have chosen it for the carving of precious objects. Following a wartime ban on gold and silver in 1689, the material, like the faience produced in France, offered an alternative for buyers of luxury objects. In the design of these objects, artisans adopted motifs and forms used in goldsmith's works, such as the fine foliate tendril reliefs that adorn the outer faces and lid of this box.
The most famous craftsman to work in this precious wood was César Bagard (1620-1709) from Nancy. The material is still called "bois de Bagard" after him to this day. In addition to decorative carvings, his workshop also produced many objects for everyday use such as mirror frames, wig boxes, powder boxes, candlesticks and tobacco rasps.
Literature
Cf. Pall, Versperrbare Kostbarkeiten aus der Hanns Schell Collection, Graz 2006, no. 67. Cf. Wilson (ed.), Baroque and Régence Catalogue of the J. Paul Getty Museum Collection, Los Angeles 2008, no. 23 (a pipe box of similar design).