I did have some leftover parts of the "Tresoor for castle Hernen" - several of the carved lower panels did have an oak colour and grain that did not match with the remainder of the tresoor and were discarded. I decided to construct a small casket with them, and make a carved lid with a scene of courtly love, a so-called 'Minnekästchen' in German. But what is actually a 'Minnekästchen'? Luckily there is a profusion of literature on this subject (see the sources at the end of this post)
Strickly speaking, the term Minnekästchen did not exist in medieval times, it was invented in the 19th century during the neo-gothic revival. The term is sometimes used to include all medieval small caskets (I do sometimes as well) (Appuhn, 1971, 1972), but it refers to the medieval caskets that have some scenes depicting love and romance scenes (for example images from the tale of the Chatelaine de Vergy, Tristan and Isolde, or the Romance de Alexandre). The 14th century ivory caskets with the tragic tale of the Chatelaine are famous - there are at least eight of them (two in the Louvre in Paris, two in the MET in New York (USA), one in the British Museum (London), the Spencer Museum of Art (Kansas), a museum in Metz (France) and in Milan (Italy)). These mostly originate from workshops in and around Paris, France (Koechlin, 1924; Carns, 2005; Hoopes, 1926; Musialik, 2022; Randall, 1997; Ross, 1948).
The ivory minnekästchen from the Louvre, Paris, France depicting the story of the Chatelaine de Vergy. The metal fittings are silver, but would likely have been gilded. Made in France, between 1340-1350. Inventary number MRR 77. Height: 9.5 cm; Length: 26.3 cm; Depth: 14 cm; Height: 8.8 cm (of the side panels); Thickness: 0.8 cm.
The story starts at the top left of the lid and then continues on the backside, the side, the front and ends at the other side.
The casket's reliefs retrace the tragic love story of the Chatelaine of Vergy and a knight. The Chatelaine, niece of the Duke of Burgundy, secretly loves a knight, whom she arranges to meet by sending him a small trained dog. The Duchess of Burgundy, also in love with the knight, tries to seduce him, but the knight rejects her. Rejected, the Duchess takes revenge by accusing the knight of having wanted to insult her. The Duke, angry, draws his sword and threatens the knight. The latter has no other option but to confess his love for the lady of the manor. The Duke witnesses the two lovers' meeting and then reveals the secret to his wife. The Duchess then invites the lady of the manor to a ball where she compliments her on training the puppies. The latter, seeing herself betrayed by her lover, dies of grief. Discovering the tragedy, the knight commits suicide. The Duke finds their two lifeless bodies and seizes the knight's sword. The Duchess's ignominy is revealed, and the Duke beheads her in the middle of the ball. He then confesses to a clergyman and leaves for the crusade.
The inside of the casket.
Whereas the French Minnekästchen were made from ivory and the Italian ones (cassonetti) were highly ornamented and gilded, the ones from the German language regions were made from carved wood (fruit woods like pear and cherry, and linden) and painted. Kohlhausen (1928) compiled a listing of at least 300 German examples. Unfortunately, I do not have this book, but many other articles describe these chests (for example Kohlhausen, 1925, 1963; Würst, 2005). These caskets were very popular with collectors in the 19th century - so popular that fake Minnekastchen were all around. Of these 300, at least 20 have been identified as fakes (Appuhn, 1984; Diemer and Diemer, 1992). For some, like the Münchener Minnekästchen, the debate is still going on (but in nowadays in favour of being genuine) (e.g. Diemer and Diemer, 1992; Ferber, 2001; Himmelheber, 1984; Wurst, 2005). For my project this debate does not matter. Also the fake caskets were based upon the genuine ones, and both can function as a source of inspiration. In fact, you might view my project as creating a new fake Minnekästchen.
The Münchener Minnekästchen is decorated both on the outside as on the inside. The openwork panels are nailed (gilded) onto the main casket. The inside also has a large inscription in the Middle-German language. Made from linden, with bronze hinges, dated around 1250 from the Upper Rhine region. Height 8.5 cm, Depth 10.5 cm, Length 23 cm. Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, München, Germany, inventory number R 8071. https://www.bayerisches-nationalmuseum.de/en/collection/00038540
The use of these minnekastchen is pure speculation: love letters, tokens of affection (like hair cuttings), jewellery are mentioned by some. As far as I know, there is no hard proof of the contents of these caskets. However, for the use of the non-love-scene caskets, there is; many of these caskets were used to hold important certificates and bills (Appuhn, 1971, 1972).
Construction of the casket
The panels from the Hernen tresoor were made from oak, with carved gothic arches on them. My leftover panels were suitable for the two small sides of the casket, and I had to make two new larger panels for the front and back, using the similar technique as for the tresoor. This also meant that the side panels had upside down arches. I used a dovetail joint to connect the sides with each other, . Further, I made a groove in the sides with the electric router for the bottom board (an oak panel with a thickness of around 6 mm). The bottom board was chamfered a bit for a tight fir in the groove. Then the parts weres fixed together using hide glue. Finally, the piece was sanded and finished with linseed oil.
The base is oiled with linseed oil, which nicely highlights the dovetails in the corners.
Carving of the casket lid
Left: Ivory casket plaque with a man and a woman in amorous conversation. The man wears a long, flowing robe; the woman is dressed in an Italian-style gown, low-cut and belted under the bust.
Dimensions: Height: 5.6 cm; Width: 5 cm; Thickness: 0.35 cm. made in France between 1300–1400. Musee de Cluny, Paris, France, inventory nr. OA2764. Right: Backside of a writing tablet (lower leaf), showing an encounter with a young woman, followed by her servant holding a small casket, offering a rabbit to her companion. The hairstyles and costumes of the figures place these leaves in the mid-14th century. Musee the Louvre, Paris, France, inventory nr. RFML.OA.2018.24.1.2, ivory with tracesof polychromy. Height 10.6 cm; Width: 5.8 cm.
A small ivory casket with shallow carved reliefs depicting courtly scenes. On the lid, the space is divided by four arches housing amorous encounters: a young man embraces a young woman and takes her hand; he caresses the young woman's belly as she plays with her belt; a young woman crowns the lover kneeling at her feet; a young people are about to kiss. On the front of the casket from left to right: a young man tends his falcon; a lion sits between two pairs of lovers, and a standing young woman makes a gesture of astonishment. On the right side, a young man holds his falcon in his right fist, strokes the chin of a young woman with his other hand, who is carrying a flower.The back and left side show other scenes. The figures are dressed in the long, flowing robes fashionable around the first decades of the 14th century. The silver lock with the silver frets ending in fleurs-de-lis that adorn the lid, the corners, and the body of the chest are modern. The attachment points of the old handle can still be seen on the lid. Musee de Louvre, Paris, France, ivory with traces of polychromy and silver, inv. LP 615. Length: 14.4 cm ; Depth: 8.9 cm ; Heigth: 4.8 cm.
I wanted to have a late 14th century style for the carved lid, as we also portray a group from around 1370. The French ivory caskets also date from around this time, as well as some 'romance' ivory pieces (see the examples above). However, I liked to create an unique scene for my casket and decided to use two illuminations from the 'Roman de Alexandre' from the Bodleian Library (MS 264) as a source, and combined them into one new scene using Photoshop. This version was printed in a very light black and white version on paper. I tracked the outlines that I wanted to use for carving with a thicker black pen resulting in a carving plan.
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The two pages from the 'Roman de Alexandre', Bodleian MS 264, London, UK. folio 59 recto - left scene at the bottom margin, and folio 121 verso - the scene at the top of the second column.
This is the cutout portion of Bodleian MS 264 folio 121v. Note the monkey on the shoulder of the woman on the right.
The cutout portion of Bodleian MS 264 folio 59r. Only the woman was used as the man was missing a leg.
The version with the woman holding the heart mixed in. The monkey has now moved to the shoulder of the woman on the left.
The black and white tracing version of the pattern for carving the lid.
For the lid of the casket I chose a different wood type. I chose linden, because this wood is easy to carve, hardly shows any grains and knots, and also because for its whitish colour resembling the ivory a bit. The carving plan was transfered to the wood by pricking the black pencil lines with a needle. These small needle points in the wood then would be used to reconstruct the image with a pencil.
A detail of the carving plan showing the needle pricks along the lines of the clothing.
The top left and right of the carving plan was empty. My plan was to add some rose vines filling up these spaces, like in the illustrations in the Manesse codex. Carving was done using an assortment of Pfeil fishtail gouges and a carving knife. The carving itself was relatively shallow, with a maximum depth of 0.5 cm. The finished carving was oiled with linseed oil (making it darker that ivory).
The plant tendrils with flowers and flower buds come from the Codex Manesse (Codex Manesse, UB Heidelberg, Germany, Cod. Pal. germ. 848), fol. 249v: Herr Konrad von Altstetten. Date between 1305 and 1315. http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/cpg848/0494.
I did not take photos from each carving step, but these show some of the progress. In the final photo the ivory blancness of the linden wood is obvious.
Finishing the Minnekästchen
The box was lined with red felt on the inside. The felt was glued to the wood using hide glue (from the gluepot, as this has a short drying time; and not the modern Titebond one, which is too fluid dries too slow for felt). The following step was to add the hinges to the casket. I bought some commercial available medieval type hinges which were pre-rusted. As my casket was newly made, rusted hinges were not to my liking. Therefore, I removed this nostalgic rust with sandpaper and steel wool. Then I blackened the steel by heating the hinge with a gas torch until red-hot, and then quenching it in vegetable oil.
A part of the hinge would overlap with the carving.
The hinges were relatively large. To prevent them from sticking out on the carving of the lid, they were added at the underside of the lid. A piece of wood was removed for a smooth fitting of the hinge. On the backside the hinge was attached with nails that were bent back into the oak. For the lid this was not feasible: either the bent back would be visible on the outside, or they would be bent over the metal of the hinge. Therefore, I planned to rivet the hinge on the lid instead. The square nails were converted into rivets by rounding them with a file, and cutting of the excess metal. A ball-peen hammer was used to rivet the nail against the hinge.
A wooden block with two holes that easily fitted the nails was clamped in a vise. The thickness of the wooden block is such that it corresponds to the thickness of the lid. The protruding point can be filed round to fit the hinge holes.
Some square nails with filed rounded ends.
The nails cut-off to the approximate size of the rivet.
A rivetted hinge on the inside of the lid.
No small locks were available for purchase, and at the time I was not proficient in locksmithing. So similar to the box of the Vatican courier chess set, two nails with a rope to connect were used to close the casket. Note that the Münchener Minnekästchen also does not posess a lock. Any remaining parts of the minnekastchen were now also coated with linseed oil.
The finished minnekastchen closed (above) and open (below).
Sources
- Appuhn, H., 1971. Rosa und die anderen Briefladen aus dem Rathaus zu Dortmund. Zur Bedeutung der Sterne und Rosetten an mittelalterlichen Möbeln. Aachener Kunstblätter 41, pp. 267-274.
- Appuhn, H., 1971. Briefladen aus Niedersachsen und Nord-Rhein Westfalen. Museum zur Kunst und Kulturgeschichte der Stadt Dordmund, Schloss Cappenberg. 38 pp.
- Appuhn, H., 1972. Briefladen. Wallraf-Richartz-Jahrbuch 34, pp. 31-44.
- Appuhn, H., 1984. Die schönsten Minnekästchen aus Basel: Fälschungen aus der Zeit der Romantik. Zeitschrift für schweizerische Archäologie und Kunstgeschichte 41, pp. 149-160.
- Carns, P.M. 2005. Compilatio in Ivory: The Composite Casket in the Metropolitan Museum Gesta 44, No. 2: pages 69-88. https://www.jstor.org/stable/25067115
- Diemer, D. and Diemer, P., 1992. Minnesangs Schnitzer. Zur Verbreitung der sogenannten Minnekästchen. In: Festschrift Walter Haug und Burghart Wachinger. Max Niemeyer Verlag, Berlin, Gemany, pp. 1021-1060. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110937114.1021
- Ferber, A., 2001. Das Münchener Minnekästchen. https://www.grin.com/document/107921?srsltid=AfmBOoqJftTdIN6u0c2FRGkVgBJS250AY9j-apgyQpXE5qADuaQCYcay
- Himmelheber, G., 1984. Das Münchner Minnekästchen - eine Chronik. Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte 47, pp. 243-247.
- Hoopes, T.T. 1926. An ivory casket in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Art Bulletin 8(3): pages 127-139.
- Kline, N.R., 2016. From Harmonious to 'Rough Music' on Late Medieval Boxes. In: The Profane Arts. Norms and Transgressions. Brepols, Turnhout, Belgium, pp. 111-127.
- Koechlin, R. 1924. Les ivoires gothiques français (Band 1, 2 and Planches). https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21674, https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21675, and https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21676. (only a small part concerns caskets)
- Kohlhausen, H. 1925. Rheinische Minnekästchen des Mittelalters. Jahrbuch der Preuszischen Kunstsammlungen 28, pp. 203-247.
- Kohlhausen, H., 1963 Ein höfische Minnekästchen-Werkstatt zwischen Maas und Niederrhein um 1430. Anzeiger des Germanischen Nationalmuseums 1963, pp. 55-61.
- Musialik, E., 2022. A 14th century ivory casket with scenes from medieval romances. the newest addition to the socalled coffrets composites group. Folia Historiae Artium Seria Nowa 20: pages 9-28.
- Randall, Jr., R.H. 1997. Games on a medieval ivory. Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 56(1/2): pages 2-9.
- Ross, D.J.A. 1948. Allegory and Romance on a Mediaeval French Marriage Casket. Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 11: pages 112-142. https://www.jstor.org/stable/750464
- Wurst, J., 2003. Pictures and Poems of Courtly Love and Bourgeois Marriage: Some Notes on the So-called Minnekästchen. In: Love, Marriage, and Family Ties in the Later Middle Ages. Brepols, Turnhout, Belgium, pp. 97-120.
- Wurst, J., 2005. Reliquiare der Liebe. Das Münchner Minnekästchen und andere mittelalterliche Minnekästchen aus dem deutschsprachigen Raum. PhD thesis, München, Germany. https://edoc.ub.uni-muenchen.de/4623/1/wurst_juergen_alexander.pdf
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