Bologna, First Half Of The 17th Century , Arcile

Bologna, first half of the 17th century

Arcile

Solid walnut, bronze applications, cm 113 x 171 x 64

The arcile is a characteristic piece of furniture from Emilia, born in the late sixteenth century, closely connected with the local cultural tradition. Sort of sideboard magnified and embellished, the same term is a sought after regionalism born in the Middle Ages, resulting from the vulgar "arcile", whose use is documented for the first time in the city of Bologna. Used as a container of wheat, flour, biada and more generally grains, the arcile derived from the chest of drawers numerous compartments, adding a long horizontal plane, tipping. All drawers/compartments were used for the functional division and containment of grains. The upper part of the arch has a characteristic shape called a donkey back, that is characterized by a double sloping, a design solution curiously taken from the Gothic tombs with an ark. The present is placed in the first half of the seventeenth century, when the practice of rounding out the ashlars (tiles), which in this case have a rectangular overhang, and precisely mold concavity at the four corners. The tiles have three bronze studs on each side in correspondence of the shapes. The ears of the present arch are mixed shaped, with a specular development that spreads outwards. Also the tacks are bronze, in derogation to the more diffused brass: this particular alloy emphasizes the preciousness of the sample, in how much more performante and more resistant regarding the brass. The legs of the present, prolonged, rectangular section, form the frame of the furniture. Although extremely parochial, the archway had a poor diffusion also in Abruzzo, between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. 

We should mention the two examples, now preserved in museum collections, that contribute, as well as the present, to witness the vivid particularism of Emilian cabinet-making: that of the Davia Bargellini Industrial Art Museum (Bologna) and that at Palazzo Giglioli Maffei (Ferrara).