Physical description
Rectangular chest of 'Nonsuch' type, oak, with inlay and marquetry decoration of various woods.
Design
[Chest] The front is divided into five 'panels', 2 square between 3 tall, narrow. The narrow panel at the centre and those at each end are composed of marquetry and inlay pictures of lantern-topped towers, with a with bead and spindle border. Traces of green dye remain on some sections of veneer. In each of the square panels is a pair of smaller domed and turreted towers set within 2 border bands of geometric tarsia a toppo alternating with the plain oak ground of the planks that make up the chest front. Above is a row of dormer windows, below an edging of bead and spindle. Applied around the five 'panels' are sections of moulding inlaid with a band of tarsia a toppo, parts of which may be replacement.
The lid is decorated with geometric patterns in chequer-work, and the sides are inlaid with borders in a similar style. On the front of the lid is a band of bead and spindle inlay. The inside of the lid of the chest is fitted two hinges of engraved tin iron. There is an internal lock (probably 20th century), and a foliate hasp that may be original but moved to fit the new lock. Each side is fitted with a wrought iron loop handle.
The chest is fitted inside with two tills. That on the left is fitted with an oak lid, decorated with rectangular bands of holly forming a diamond pattern in the middle, and its exposed side is decorated with oak squares, framed by a series of alternating holly and bog oak rectangles; below are two drawers, described below. The till on the right is an open tray, with its exposed side decorated with a single zig-zag frieze of inlaid holly and bog-oak strips.
Construction
The chest is constructed with dovetailed, quartered oak boards, the sides (which are thicker at the top than the bottoms) dovetailed to the front and back. Each board consists of two planks, grained side to side. The bottom (probably replaced), consists of two boards, dowelled together, resting in grooves cut in the front, back and sides. The ends of the bottom have been rebated, suggesting that the chest originally sat within a low stand, and that the moulding around the front and sides is a later addition. The lid consists of two dowelled boards, with a pegged cleat at both ends. All the mouldings appear to be nailed.
Decoration
On the chest front the main ‘panels’ are assembled marquetry (much of it from pre-assembled strips), which completely covers the oak ‘ground’, and with applied mouldings covering the joins. On the chest sides and lid, strips of ‘tarsia a topo’ are inlaid into the visible ground wood.
Modifications
The internal lock is of recent date. The base moulding appears to be a relatively recent addition. Numerous small areas of marquetry and inlay appear to have been replaced. Both internal till units may be replacements, on the basis that they appear to be notably fresh, and some of the wear on the chest lid from the left till lid is false. This would have involved loosening the main dovetail joints of the chest, which are now concealed by applied mouldings.
[Drawer] Drawer, the sides, back, bottom and unveneered front of oak. The veneer consists of an interlacing zig-zag pattern, with chequerboard decorations in the squares formed by the intersection. Triangles are placed between the points of the zig-zag. Each drawer has a brass stud-handle, probably dating from the early to mid 19th century.
[Drawer] Drawer, the sides, back, bottom and unveneered front of oak. The veneer consists of an interlacing zig-zag pattern, with chequerboard decorations in the squares formed by the intersection. Triangles are placed between the points of the zig-zag. Each drawer has a brass stud-handle, probably dating from the early to mid 19th century.
[key] Key, iron, with thick handle and shaft with moulded decoration, probably about 1900.
Place of Origin
England, Great Britain (made)
Date
late 16th century (made)
ca. 1900 (made)
Artist/maker
Vredeman de Vries, Hans, born 1527 - died 1604 (school of, designer)
Materials and Techniques
oak, inlaid with various woods
Dimensions
Height: 628 mm, Width: 1825 mm, Depth: 707 mm
[Drawer] Height: 4.7 cm, Width: 24 cm, Depth: 20.3 cm
[Drawer] Height: 4.5 cm, Width: 24.2 cm, Depth: 20.2 cm
Object history note
Bequeathed by Sir Aston Webb (RF 31/3691) 'worn and scratched... the lock is of later date'
This chest was illustrated in A History of English Furniture Vol. I, 'The Age of Oak' by Percy MacQuoid (London, 1904, Fig. 103). as 'the Property of Sir Aston Webb', but it is not known when or where he acquired it. His son, Maurice E.Webb, thought fit to give it to the museum on the death of his father, as he wrote to Sir Eric Maclagan: '... my sister and I would like to see it there now instead of waiting until we die' (ref. Nominal File: R.G.Webb Bequest).
Historical significance: The chest is a good example of dovetailed furniture with inlaid and marquetry decoration, produced in England by specialist inlayers, working in London, particularly Southwark, who mostly came over from Germany and the Netherlands from about 1580. Chests with this decoration were long thought to have been inspired by Henry VIII's palace at Nonsuch, Surrey. More recent research has noted similarities between this type of decoration and examples made in Germany, particularly near Cologne, at about this time. These pieces were often decorated with archtitectural fantasies, inspired by published collections of engravings such as Variae archiecturae formae published by Hans Vredeman de Vries (1527-1604), rather than Nonsuch Palace. Whole runs of inlay were probably made by independent specialists, and could be applied to oak chests, made separately by a joiner. As Edmund Maria Bolton tells us in Elements of Armories (1610): 'At St. Olaves in Southwark, you shall learn, among the joyenrs what Inlayes and Marquetrie meane. Inlaye ... is a laying of colour'd wood in their Wainscot works, Bedsteads, Cupbords, Chayres and the like'.
The chest was in the collection of Sir Aston Webb (1849-1930), the distinguished architect, whose commissions included the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Admiralty Arch and façade of Buckingham Palace. It is an interesting example of his collecting, and also of a widespread taste for all things Elizabethan by the end of the nineteenth century. As stated by Sir Eric Maclagan, the then director, this chest had become 'a very well known piece', and one thought a fitting bequest to the museum that he had designed.
Descriptive line
Oak chest inlaid with architectural decoration in various woods. English, late 16th century.
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
MacQuoid, Percy. A History of English Furniture. London: Lawrence & Bullen Ltd., 1904. Vol. I, 'The Age of Oak'. Fig. 103, pp.125-127 'Fig. 103 is a large chest almost six feet in length, with this same interesting decoration as Plate VIII., and probably by the same hand. The front is divided into five panels, those narrow and upright being inlaid with the lantern-topped turrets of Nonesuch in light wood on a dark oak ground, the windows of the turrets being represented in the darker wood; these are bordered with a wide bead and spindle inlay, and framed in stiles of the finer checker-work marqueterie, found between 1580 and 1600. The two large panels are filled with a repeated representation of the central portions of the house set in elaborate borders of checker-work. Along the top, and treated as a frieze, run the dormer windows, which in Hoefnagle’s drawing surround the tops of the towers. The colour of the oak forming the construction of the chest is light; the top and sides are decorated with borders of inlay checker-work, and possess the original handles. On opening the lid, the original tinned hinges can also be seen, and a small hanging box on each side, faced with marqueterie. '
Clifford Smith, H. Catalogue of English Furniture and Woodwork. London: Board of Education, 1929. Vol. 11. p. 16.
Forman, Benno. Continental Furniture Craftsmen in London: 1511 - 1625. Furniture History. 1971. Vol. VII, pp. 94 - 120.
G. Bernard Hughes, 'Chests for plate and for blankets' in Country Life, Oct. 8, 1964, pp. 934-7, plate 3
Exhibition History
Treasures of the Royal Courts: Tudors, Stuarts and the Russian Tsars (Victoria and Albert Museum)
The Golden Age of the English Court: From Henry VIII to Charles I (Moscow Kremlin Museums 24 Oct 2012-27 Jan 2013)
Labels and date
Oak inlaid with various woods in checkerwork patterns with apnels of archiectural ornament.
English; late 16th century.
Given by the late Sir Ashton Webb.
The decoration on this chest is inspired by German (Rhenish) examples imported into England in the early 16th century. They are frequently associated wityh the palace of Nonsuch, built by Henry VIII in 1538. There is however no particular connection, beyond the general resemblance of the inlaid panels representing towers to known representations of the palace of Nonsuch. Such chests are either of German origin or were made by immigrant craftsmen. [unknown]
CHEST.
English about 1590.
Oak, with inlay and marquetry in various woods, internal tills and tinned iron hinges.
Bequeathed by Sir Aston Webb (1849 - 1930), architect of this gallery.
W17-1931,
Chests of this type were produced in quantity, almost certainly by German immigrant craftsmen living in Southwark. Like the head of the Great Bed of Ware (Room 54) their decoration is influenced by prints of about 1560 by Hans Vredeman de Vries (1527-1604). [1982]
CHEST
ENGLISH; late 16th century
Oak inlaid with various woods in checkerwork patterns with panels of architectural ornament.
The decoration on this chest is inspired by German (Rhenish) examples imported into England in the early 16th century. They are frequently associated with the palace of Nonsuch, built by Henry VIII in 1538. There is, however, no particular connection beyond the general resemblance of the inlaid panels representing towers to known representations of the palace of Nonsuch. Such chests are either of German origin or were made by immigrant craftsmen.
Given by the late Sir Aston Webb. [pre October 2000]
Treasures of the Royal Courts: Tudors, Stuarts and the Russian Tsars label text:
‘Nonsuch’ chest
1580–1600; repaired about 1900
This German-influenced chest was a radical departure
from traditional English furniture. The elaborate
geometric inlay and pictorial marquetry – originally
much more colourful – required new skills. Decoration
like this was long thought to have been inspired by
Henry VIII’s Nonsuch Palace but is actually based
on printed designs from Europe. The decoration
conceals an innovative dovetailed construction.
London
Oak, with inlay and marquetry decoration in various woods,
with tinned iron fittings
Bequeathed by Sir Aston Webb, architect of the Victoria
and Albert Museum
V&A W.17-1931
Production Note
The decoration may have been influenced by the published engraved ornamental designs of Vredeman de Vries.
Materials
Oak; Brass (alloy); Holly; Bog oak
Techniques
Inlay (process)
Subjects depicted
Buildings; Architecture; Chequer-work; Zigzags; Turrets (towers)
Categories
Containers; Furniture
Collection code
FWK
