Lorenzo di Credi and workshop Cassone with Coat of Arms of the Pitti Family, late 15th century, poplar wood painted with tempera
Every Renaissance home had a chest, or coffer, or safe, which Vasari called a cofano. Chests were used to store clothes, bedclothes and accessories, linen, books, silverware and many other things besides. Frequently commissioned in pairs and offered as wedding gifts or brought by the bride as part of her dowry, they were sometimes richly decorated and bore the family crests of both partners in a marriage.
