I've had this old beauty for over a decade now, a personal favorite on display in my own homes. As you can tell, I love the old carved panels salvaged from cabinetry and paneling in grand old chateau and homes, villas. There are so many ways to incorporate them into your decor: recessed cabinets for wine, fronts for vanity chests in bathrooms, facing for the cabinetry in your own kitchen, or, as you see it here, made up into a fabulous large table box or chest. This panel has been incorporated into a 19th century table or documents box, a chest, really, at 19.5" long. The old French interior in claret red silk satin, deep tuck/tufted work that is in superb condition. There are 3 ornate handles, each side but the back. Perhaps made as a bride's trousseau box, or a documents box, or just a very large jewelry box, it preserves and enhances this much earlier carving of a chimera. Panels like this bas relief carved panel are truly works of art in sculpture. Perhaps Italian Master carver on the lid panel, and a very adept cabinetry Master a century or more later creating the box. The base is 19 1/4” x 9.5”, lid is 181/4” x 8 3/4”, around 4 3/4” tall
Very good to excellent condition for age and type. Combination of a superb and excellently preserved Neo Renaissance panel up top that dates a century or more earlier, and a box built incorporating it some time in mid-1800s, it survives all that time without damage notable. Feels like it ought to be in the Medici Palace in Florence, doesn't it. The length overall is 19.25" - substantial. My records show I sold this box in 2013 for $2500.00, and then happily bought it back from that customer a few years later and have just kept it. Some pieces, once they sell, I regret parting with them. One such case. But it's time to downsize myself. I don't think it will last long now that it's listed again. Sigh. The base is 19 1/4” x 9.5”, lid is 181/4” x 8 3/4”, around 4 3/4” tall
