The Nativity, in Coffer
c. 1490
Medium
Woodcut in black, hand colored with brush, stencil and watercolor on ivory laid paper mounted on the inside cover of a coffer, constructed of wood, iron, leather, horsehair and linen
Dimensions
Woodcut, image: 23.1 × 16.4 cm (9 1/8 × 6 1/2 in.); Box: 22 × 33 × 15 cm (8 11/16 × 13 × 5 15/16 in.)
Classification
woodcut
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
193362
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
This woodcut and coffer demonstrate the very unusual survival of a print in its original context. Incredibly, ten other impressions of this stencil-colored, mass-produced Nativity survive, all also in boxes, and approximately one hundred other French coffers ornamented with similar prints exist. Their original purpose, however, remains uncertain. Despite their metal reinforcements and standardized lock, they were not sturdy enough to be strapped to pack animals. They may instead have been worn a...