CHEST WITH ROYAL MONOGRAM. MAHOGANY, METAL. SPAIN, 19TH CENTURY.

Box or casket with royal monogram. Mahogany wood, metal. Spain, 19th century. It has slight damage. Rectangular box with a flat lid and key hole on the front decorated with metal applications on the corners, edges, handles, etc. Under the key hole it has a fleur-de-lis. The lid has a central motif with fleurs-de-lys and a crowned M, and alternating castles and crowned lions in the corners. This emblem (and the fact that it is accompanied by lions and castles alluding to Castilian heraldry) is reminiscent of the royal monograms that, apparently, all members of the royal family had in the past to mark their belongings. In this case, it is possible that it refers to María Cristina de Borbón-Dos Sicilias (Palermo, 1806-SAinte-Adresse, 1878), wife of Ferdinand VII and regent during the minority of Isabel II. However, we must remember María Cristina of Habsburg-Lorraine or Austria (1858-1929), wife of Alfonso XII. The emblem of María de las Mercedes de Orleans y Borbón (Madrid, 1860-1878), wife of Alfonso XII, used to appear with two capital “emes”.

· Size: 78x31x24 cms.