Existing comment:
Writing and Reading Box
ca. 1570
German, Nuremberg
As geometry gained popularity as part of princely education, geometric forms became a popular subject for marquetry. The inlaid design on the lid of this box displays a staggered collection of twenty perspectival geometries based on manipulations of the five forms known as the Platonic solids. Boxes of this general type were used atop a desk or table to ease reading and to store writing instruments; only eleven pieces featuring polyhedral imagery made using this inlay technique survive. |