The Carnic wedding chests

0
1200
Carnic wedding chests
Chests at the Tolmezzo Museum

Speaking of Friulian art, we are aware of the fact that in Friuli, throughout the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, there has never been a real development of any artistic current, but it has always been an art that was accessible to all, simple and with influences from both Italy and beyond the Alps. What is certain is that in this simple art the undisputed protagonists were everyday life, therefore everyday objects, and wood, the raw material of the territory. Precisely given these assumptions we will talk about the wedding chests with regard to traditional Friulian art and in particular the Carnian art.

The origin of the chests derives from the need to have a piece of furniture in homes, possibly with a back, the interior of which could be a closet for clothes and linen. Their creation took place in Friuli between the 400s and 800s, especially in Carnia, where woodworking was more developed and less archaic than in the Friuli plain.

Over time in Carnia, the creation of the so-called "wedding chests" containing the bride's trousseau and indispensable in the house for creating a new hearth, became more successful. Although in bourgeois families over the years they had become furniture with the aim of preserving various objects and clothes, in less well-off families they maintained their importance and emotional bond.

Of the numerous crates present in Carnia there are about sixty left, all kept in the Carnico Museum of Popular Arts and Traditions of Tolmezzo and described in the museum catalogue.
The dimensions vary, from the largest to contain grain, to the smallest for flour or caskets.

They all shared the same construction, which consisted of a shaped base (or 4 feet), 4 axes and 2 rarely decorated sides. They had a flat, protruding lid below which a simple or varied notch was carved along the sides and front. The facade consisted of 2 pilasters (or 3 in the larger cases) which could extend to the feet, and a median field. Where there was no molded plinth there were molded and carved bands between the feet.

As for the carving on the front facade, it was different in each valley of Carnia.

In Lower Carnia (Amaro-Tolmezzo-Villa Santina) the decorations could be simple geometric frames arranged to form rhombuses or polygons, geometries composed of wheels, or the decoration derived from the "sansovino" type (sixteenth-century Veneto cassone), finely carved with a elegant, the side masks on the pilasters and a central oval with double volutes.

In Alta Carnia (Paularo-Paluzza-Comeglians-Prato Carnico-Pesariis), we find a decoration with acanthus leaves made with skill despite the fact that the plant and the ornamental motif were foreign to the region.

More specifically, for example, in the Val Pesarina the characteristic was the insertion of a shield in the median field as if to enclose a coat of arms, while in the Ovaro basin geometric motifs with little hollows were associated with the acanthus leaves. The best case preserved in the Tolmezzo museum dates back to this area, an engraved and polychrome case dated 1745 and coming from Ovasta.

In Comeglians, on the other hand, the motifs were interesting as they depicted unidentifiable marine animals and bunches of sea grapes, giving a Mediterranean character despite the evident lack of confidence of the artists with the sea.

In the Paularo valley the decoration was done with mirrors framed in glossy briar, a very precious wood coming from the root of the walnut, while in Ligosullo the features even came from the East with filiform carvings and solar wheels.

Another type of motif is found in the Val d'Ampezzo, where the fir tree, symbol of the valley, becomes central, adorned with birds, roses, Greek frets, geometries and branches whose arrangements and representations vary from town to town.

Moving from Carnia towards Val Natisone we find further changes both in the symbology and in the methodology. From carving we move on to geometric inlay and the six-pointed rosette and various religious symbols are inserted to replace the pagan ones.

It can therefore be understood how much in Friuli, especially in Carnia, each town has its own peculiarities and characteristics, different from each other but united by the historical and symbolic value in the same object. Nothing like the chests carved in walnut make us understand, with their beauty, attention to detail and research in decoration, the importance that was given to them in what they represented for Friulians.

For this reason it is worthwhile, passing through Tolmezzo, to stop at the Carnic Museum and delve into the history of Carnia, and see these unique and traditional pieces made by the hands of masters who knew wood perfectly.

LEAVE A COMMENT

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here