Painted and Gilt 7th Century Box
M ore than seven years ago, I began working on my "7th Century Box" project. At the time, I had no idea that it would be this long in the making, but this past week, it finally got "finished". Actually, it really is not finished yet, because it still wants hinges, a handle, a lock and some textile lining. The finished front (minus a lock) The main reason for making this box, besides that I wanted to, was to demonstrate the potential decorative qualities of objects from a time when so few are available; and to show that the world was not as drab bleak and crude as what people are want to portray it, through their own cultural ignorance and biases. To be sure, this was no "ordinary" man's chest, but it is something that could have existed, and if it did, it would look, when new, just as this does; every aspect of it was crafted with tools and techniques available in the 7th century. In this post, I shall tell a bit of how I came t...
