Inlaid casket

A casket wall made of beech wood inlaid with oak and yew wood. It was found in 1996 during archaeological research in Szczecin's Podzamcze at a settlement level from the end of the 12th century. Intarsia is a decorative technique known since antiquity. It consists in completing cut out fragments of the wooden surface of an object with other wood species. Three different strands of marquetry create the ornamentation of the Szczecin casket. The central rectangular part, separated by a frame, is occupied by diagonally arranged square panels supplemented by triangles. Each panel is filled with narrow slats, alternating between dark oak and light yew. The whole gives the impression of a thick braid. The decoration in the form of two rows of light yew ears is directly adjacent to the border of the central strand. The rim of the wall is surrounded by a composition of alternating motifs: chessboards with 25 fields and four-leaved rosettes of light wood, precisely composed into lenticular cuts in panels of darker oak. The casket was probably used for a very long time, which is confirmed by numerous traces of repairs in the form of iron clasps, iron and bronze nails or rivets and an antler plate decorated with motifs of circles and engraved lines, which is a fragment of a larger object used secondarily to strengthen the corner of the casket. It is most probably of foreign origin. Considering the craftsmanship, we can assume that it was used to store valuable objects, possibly jewellery and coins.

Sławomir Słowiński