440 - Renaissance chest – Aragonese school – 16th century

Renaissance chest – Aragonese school – 16th century A chest made of carved, gilded, and polychrome wood, with a later-period base. These types of pieces, intended for both the safekeeping of valuables and the preservation of precious documents or textiles, occupied a prominent place in the domestic and devotional sphere of Hispanic material culture. In the Crown of Aragon, where late medieval craft traditions persisted for a long time, chests continued to play an essential role in household furnishings, while gradually adopting the decorative styles of the Renaissance, reinterpreted by local workshops deeply rooted in the Gothic and Mudéjar traditions. The piece has a prismatic structure with robust lines and compact proportions, designed to ensure its functionality and durability. Its surface is profusely decorated with carved reliefs that organize the ornamentation into well-defined areas, later enriched with polychromy combining bluish, reddish, and golden tones. This treatment highlights the importance placed on the chromatic effect in the furniture of the period, where polychromy helped give the object a visual presence comparable to that of the fine arts, integrating it into the overall aesthetic of noble interiors. From a stylistic perspective, the chest reflects the transitional period experienced by the decorative arts in Aragon during the 16th century, when Italian Renaissance models began to spread throughout the Iberian Peninsula through engravings, artistic exchanges, and the work of itinerant artisans. In this context, Aragonese workshops developed a hybrid style that combined the Gothic heritage with the new classicist sensibility, resulting in works of remarkable character. Dimensions: 21.5 × 46 × 25 cm.