Cassetta frame
Unknown Artist
1900–1910 (style early 18th century)
Medium
Poplar back frame with applied ebonized pearwood upper moldings; glass. Half-lapped back frame. Sight edge: oil gilt. Friezes: verre églomisé, or reverse-painted glass, held in with bronze-colored ripple moldings and gilt-bronze panel ends, and painted to resemble stone mosaic.
Dimensions
Overall: 34 3/8 × 30 7/8 in. (87.3 × 78.4 cm) Sight: 16 1/4 × 12 15/16 in. (41.2 × 32.8 cm) Rabbet: 16 15/16 × 13 11/16 in. (43 × 34.7 cm)
Classification
Frames
Culture
Italian, Rome
Department
Robert Lehman Collection
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Robert Lehman Collection, 1975
Accession Number
1975.1.2297
Art Historical Context
This exquisite *Cassetta frame*, crafted in Rome around 1900–1910, revives the elegant early 18th-century of Italian Baroque framing. Cassetta frames, meaning "little box" in Italian, feature a flat, panel structure that creates a sense of depth and architectural poise, originally popular from the Renaissance onward for housing paintings. Made from poplar with applied ebonized pearwoodings, this frame measures 34 3/8 × 30 7/8 inches overall, its sight edge gleaming with oil gilding for a luxurious finish. What sets it apart are the friezes employing *verre églomisé*—reverse-painted glass mimi...