Not currently on display at the V&A

Chest

1639 (made)
Place of origin
England (made)

English. Dated 1639. Chest of carved elm, with iron lockplate. Inscribed on the front IG and on the base: - THIS : CHEST : WAS : MAD : IN : THE : YEAR : OF : OVH : LORD : GOD : ANNO : DO. 1639 : IAMES : GRIFFIN.

On the front is carved with flat ornament consisting of grotesque monsters terminating in scrollwork bordering lozenges filled in with leafage; on each side are two similar lozenges. There are traces of paint on the ground of the panels. The lower edge of the base is shaped. There is an iron lockplate of heraldic shape with coronet and heraldic supporters.


Object details

Category
Furniture
Object type
Chest
Parts
This object consists of 2 parts.

  • Key
  • Chest
Materials and techniques
elm, carved with iron fittings
Elm
Iron
Carving
Brief description
Carved James Griffin elm chest with iron lockplate, 1639, England, 13/417M
Physical description
English. Dated 1639. Chest of carved elm, with iron lockplate. Inscribed on the front IG and on the base: - THIS : CHEST : WAS : MAD : IN : THE : YEAR : OF : OVH : LORD : GOD : ANNO : DO. 1639 : IAMES : GRIFFIN.

On the front is carved with flat ornament consisting of grotesque monsters terminating in scrollwork bordering lozenges filled in with leafage; on each side are two similar lozenges. There are traces of paint on the ground of the panels. The lower edge of the base is shaped. There is an iron lockplate of heraldic shape with coronet and heraldic supporters.
Dimensions
  • Height: 66cm
  • Length: 146cm
  • Depth: 55cm
Taken from dept file: H 2ft 2in x W 4ft 9.5in x D 1ft 9.5in (feet and inches)
Marks and inscriptions
THIS : CHEST : WAS : MAD : IN : THE : YEAR : OF : OVH : LORD : GOD : ANNO : DO. 1639 : IAMES : GRIFFIN
Object history
Purchased for £40 from Rhodes Trist, Clifton House, Send, Surrey.

Taken from dept file: 'Restored in places'.

Notes taken from RP 13/417M

Letter from A. Rhodes Trist 12/2/1913

"perhaps the particulars I had after purchasing will be of use, but I cannot vouch for the truthfulness of same, it is stated that the chest was sold from The Old Castle Inn, Old Sarum, many years since, & came from or was connected with the Pitt family of Stratford Castle, of Old Sarum, this family was I am told was [sic] connected with Lord Chatham's."

Museum minutes
"The lid has been slightly restored and some alteration has been made to the hinges, otherwise the condition is very good", then makes a comparison with court cupboard dated 1640 illus in Macquoid vol 1 fig 128
Bibliographic references
  • H. Clifford Smith, Catalogue of English Furniture & Woodwork (London 1930), cat. 576, Plate 23.
  • Edwards, Ralph. Country Life. 'Chests and Coffers - Chests of the Elizabethan and Stuart Periods'. July 4, 1925. ' The variety described in Stuart inventories as a ‘borded chest,’ is represented by Fig. 4, from the Victoria and Albert Musuem. The uprights are omitted and planks pegged together form the front and sides. Something of traditional style is preserved in the shallow ornament of grotesque monsters terminating in scrollwork, and the deeply moulded plinth is shaped in a very effective manner. This specimen is of elm, the carved inscription relating that it was made ‘in the yeare of our Lord God Anno Do 1639 by James Griffin.’ The interesting lockplate is of a type often fitted to Stuart chests, but the majority have been broken and replaced by others of less elaborate character.'
  • Roe, Fred. A History of Oak Furniture. London, 1920, pp 13-14 & 23. ‘One of the most instructive pieces which it would be possible to study in the debatable class is a coffer of carved elm in the Victoria and Albert Museum (W. 30, 1913). This coffer is sculptured on its front with a design of gryphons and scrollwork so unmistakably Tyrolean in character that few would hesitate to pronounce in this wise on its origin from superficial scrutiny. Running round the base, however, appears the confusing inscription: - BY . JAMES . GRIFFIN 16. THIS : CHEST . WAS : MAD : IN : THE . YEARE : OF : OUR. 39 LORD : GOD . ANO : DO. The initials ‘I.G.’ also appear in smaller characters in the centre of the front panel. Now here is a piece quite Tyrolean in character, and yet made by a craftsman who obviously worked in our own country, and, eschewing oak, worked in the softer elm for his material. The peculiarities are too strong to admit of any doubt; the flat-surfaced carving is essentially Tyrolese in character, though perhaps the diamond-shaped ornaments scarcely accord; and the very red and black in depressed portions of the carvings is characteristic of the Tyrol. It is, therefore, extremely probable that James Griffin was an immigrant, long resident in England; that the coffer in question was made here for his own family use in the style which he remembered and loved; and also remotely possible that the gryphons (though the device was quite an ordinary one) were intended as a rebus on his name. The material used (elm) must have been selected as being more akin to the consistency of the Alpine fir than our iron-grained national oak. Altogether a very pretty piece of conjectured history.’
Collection
Furniture and Woodwork Collection
Accession number
W.30:2-1913

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Record createdNovember 23, 2004
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O107431/chest/
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