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Chest Front

1480-1520 (made)
Artist/Maker
Unknown (maker)
Place of origin
Suffolk (made)

Portion of an oak chest front. Below the lock-plate (now missing) is a selfoil ornament, on one side is a row of interlacing arches filled with bands of spiral ornament, on the other side portions of similar arches.

Object details

Category
Woodwork
Object type
Chest front
Materials and techniques
Oak
Oak
Wood
Carving
Brief description
Portion of a boarded chest front in oak. Eastern Counties of England, ca. 1480-1520.
Physical description
Portion of an oak chest front. Below the lock-plate (now missing) is a selfoil ornament, on one side is a row of interlacing arches filled with bands of spiral ornament, on the other side portions of similar arches.
Dimensions
  • Height: 38.9cm
  • Width: 104.5cm
  • Thickness: 1.3cm
LW 19.1.10
Credit line
Given by Mrs Graham Rees-Mogg
Object history
Bought on the Museum's behalf by Mrs Rees-Mogg from Frank Jennings (12 Holland Street, W.8), along with a chest W.428-1922 and another chest front (W.430-1922). They were delivered to the Museum from Walberswick, Suffolk, and the acquisition file records that it had been purchased by a former owner in Lavenham. A pencil sketch elevation (author unknown) is with the RP 22/7208.
Historical context
Comparable objects:
-'A rare Henry VIII oak boarded chest, with associated lid, circa 1520-40', Lot 467, p. 154-155, Bonhams 21/01/2014
- 'Little Waldingfield chest', Suffolk Church Chests, p. 28 Fig. 43 (David Sherlock, Suffolk Church Chests, Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History, 2008)
- 'Henry VIII oak boarded chest, c. 1520 - 1540', Marhamchurch Antiques (#Marh256)
- Oak boarded chest, Clive Sherwood sale at Sotheby's, 22/05/2002, lot number 53
Bibliographic references
  • Charles Tracy, English Medieval Furniture and Woodwork (London, 1988), cat. no.308. 'PORTION of a boarded CHEST-FRONT; below the lock—plate (now missing) is a sexfoil ornament, on one side is a row of interlacing arches filled with bands of spiral ornament, on the other side portions of similar arches (the panel at this point having been mutilated). Given by Mrs Graham Rees-Mogg Oak. Early 16th century 39.4 x 104 cm Mus. No. W.429-1922 East Anglian Purchased by a former owner at Lavenham, Suffolk'
  • H. Clifford Smith, Catalogue of English Furniture & Woodwork. Vol II - Late Tudor and Early Stuart (London 1930)
  • Sherlock, David. 'Suffolk Church Chests', Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History, 2008. p. 28 Three more chests carved with Gothic fronts are now in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, their provenances uncertain but conceivably from Suffolk. One, purchased by a former owner at Bury St Edmunds, has a front 'carved with two rows of ornament, the upper composed of quatrefoils and trefoils, and the lower of a row of narrow arches of late perpendicular character. Below the front is a portion of carved spandrel' (Tracey, 1988, no.302); from Ipswich a chest front has 'diagonal bands of ornament; on either side is a rounded arch carved with leaf design and filled with ornament resembling tracery' (ibid, no.309); and from Lavenham comes a chest with sexfoil ornament. On one side is a row of interlacing arches filled with bands of spiral ornament, and on the other is side potions of similar arches (ibid, no.308). The front of the Bury chest has traces of its original red paint, a reminder that all the above chests may have originally been colourfully painted. The handful of decorated chests mentioned above do not amount to much compared with the quantity of woodwork on screens and bench ends in the country; nor can they be said to represent any particular country or regional style of carving.
Collection
Furniture and Woodwork Collection
Accession number
W.429-1922

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Record createdFebruary 27, 2007
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O132446/chest-front-unknown/
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