Γύρω από μια άγνωστη ομάδα έργωντης νεοελληνικής ξυλογλυπτικής

Περίληψη

The present study is part of the efforts which have been made for many years to research and analyse aspects of the popular arts of the Greek world during the period of foreign domination following the Byzantine period. Its aim is the collection, examination and publication of a group of carved wooden chests which share common features of construction and idiosyncracies of craftsmanship. This group includes examples in the Benaki Museum and in private collections. Despite the obvious links in shape and decorative spirit with Renaissance and Post-Renaissance Italy, and chiefly with the a Bambocci class of Genovese furniture, it is argued that they were manufactured in Greece. Their production centre can be placed on the island of Chios, on the basis of the consistent evidence for their provenance as well as the island’s well recorded dependence from Genoa. In certain examples the interpretation of the themes of the decoration is difficult, since parallels are lacking –or at least not detected so far– either in the iconographic repertoire of traditional Greek art or among the examples selected by Th. Meyer in his unpublished Master. There are no references of any kind in the more or less limited literature available. Thanks to a group of examples with simpler decorative motifs it is suggested that these chests should be dated between the late 17th and early 19th centuries, that is to say the period between the last years of the Genovese presence and the pitiless sack of the island by the Turks in 1822.