Folk Art of Europe & Rest of World »
Shepherd’s Coffer with Traditional Folk Symbols
Ref: 5425
A good example of shepherd’s beechwood coffer from Eastern Europe, what is unusual about it is the variety of carved motif to the front, ethnographers have names for these motifs, nets, grids, bull’s eyes, lines of power, & all create reverberations and visual tricks that capture the eye, and so, in accordance with the original intention deter ill-intent. They call it the ‘evil eye’ meaning the design avert evil or unwanted attention from spirits and magic. Other tribes down in the lowland valleys decorated their chests with flowers and classical motifs borrowed from finer painted furniture seen in towns and in the Renaissance and Baroque churches. The shepherd’s kept with their old ways, making their marriage and keepsake boxes, by pegging hewn boards and decorating them with abstract motifs whose origins were vastly distant in time.
Transylvania 19th cent
H: 57cm (22.4in)
W: 92cm (36.2in)
D: 59cm (23.2in)
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