Upper Paneling from a Sacristy Armoire (c. 1460–75): Art, History and Details

Upper Paneling from a Sacristy Armoire (c. 1460–75) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Giuliano da Maiano (Italian, 1432–1490).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

The imagery on the inset panels is the result of a technique known as intarsia, the skilled inlaying of woods of different colors to create a type of mosaic, popular during the 15th and 16th centuries in Italy for the decoration of paneling and furniture for studies, small rooms, and church sacristies. This large set of five intarsia panels comes from an unknown Florentine church. In its original setting the panels rested upon a row of similarly decorated cupboards (a sacristy armoire) which were used for the storage of liturgical vestments and books. This panel would have therefore been seen at eye level. The central panel depicts the Resurrection of Christ. The two outside panels depict the emblem of Lorenzo de Medici-three plumes encircled by a jeweled ring above a scrolling ribbon containing the Latin word SEMPER (Always). Lorenzo de Medici (1449-92) was the ruler of Florence when this sacristy armoire was constructed and was the likely patron. It seems to be the work of Giuliano da Maiano, an architect and intarsia-maker also responsible for the intarsia in the sacristy of Florence Cathedral.

Object facts

• Title: Upper Paneling from a Sacristy Armoire
• Date: c. 1460–75
• Creator attribution: Giuliano da Maiano (Italian, 1432–1490)
• Culture: Italy, Florence
• Type: Furniture and woodwork
• Technique: walnut, inlaid with holly and ebony
• Dimensions: Overall: 160 x 476 x 69.2 cm (63 x 187 3/8 x 27 1/4 in.)
• Collection: MED - Renaissance
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 1915.526

Collection credit

Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust

Further reading listed by the museum

• Baccheschi, Edi. Mobili intarsiati: del sei e settecento in Italia. Milano: Görlich, 1964.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.
• Pillsbury, Edmund P. Florence and the Arts; Five Centuries of Patronage. 1971.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.