A Time-Worn Diminutive 16th/Early 17th Century Antique Iron-Bound Missal Box or Coffrets de Messager with Traces of Original Paint, Probably German or French

A small and highly evocative iron-bound missal box or casket, Continental, probably German or French, 16th or early 17th century, the oak timber carcase clad in cusped iron strapwork with substantial remains of early painted decoration.

The flat, shallow form with its swing carrying handle is that traditionally termed a missal box, made to carry a liturgical volume — a missal, breviary, or book of hours — or valuable documents flat and secure on the road. The proportions are exactly right for a small bound volume lying flat, protected from weather and theft alike, and boxes of this type appear in the French literature as coffrets de messager.

The casket is bound on all faces with hand-forged iron straps terminating in cusped, quatrefoil-shaped ends — a late Gothic decorative vocabulary that persisted in Continental workshops well into the 16th century — the straps secured with rose-head nails throughout. The front carries a large-shaped lockplate with keyhole, and the lid retains its original swing handle: this was a travelling box, made to move with its owner.

The surface is a great part of the charm: an early dark green-black paint layer, now worn and flaking across the timber to a wonderfully decorative effect, the iron mounts in dry, untouched russet. The whole reads as an object of genuine age that has never suffered restoration or improvement.

Small iron-bound boxes of this type served clergy, merchants, and households across the German lands, France, and the Low Countries — the portable security of an age before the banker's vault.

Provenance: France or Germany. Late 16th Century or early 17th Century.

Material: Oak and iron.

Condition: In structurally sound original condition commensurate with age; surface wear, losses to some of the iron strapwork, later screws at the back have been used to secure the hinges to the carcase. The lockplate has been replaced historically. The hasp and lock are missing. There are paint losses as described. Offered for sale as found.

Dimensions: 9½ in (24 cm) wide, 7½ in (19 cm) deep, 4¾ in (12 cm) high