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Chest

Chest

  • Place of origin:

    Great Britain (made)

  • Date:

    1200-1300 (made)

  • Artist/Maker:

    Unknown

  • Materials and Techniques:

    Oak, carved

  • Museum number:

    W.30-1926

  • Gallery location:

    In store

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Chests were the earliest form of furniture used for storage and could easily be carried from place to place. This one is smaller than most and easily transportable. Chests were used for storing clothes, linen, documents or money and often had locks for security, as in this case. They were used in churches, as well as in houses, to store valuables. This chest is said to have come from a church in Hampshire. The decoration is contained entirely in the chip-carved roundels on the front. Other chests with similar chip-carving have been found, mainly in Surrey and Sussex.

Physical description

Chest, the front and back composed of a single panel flanked by wedge-shaped stiles.The front is carved with three large roundels incised with geometric patterns. The end panels slope slightly inwards and are faced with a framework of chamfered rails halved together and tenoned into the stiles. The plain back board (split at lower edge) is recessed between the rear stiles, where the front is flush with the front stiles. The lid, which is a single, wide board, is fitted with pin hinges (repaired originals), and has rails with curved chamfers fixed on the underside (using large trenails) which fit down into slots. Bottom boards (replaced) running front to back sit in grooves in the front and back panel and stiles. Inside the chest are grooves which held a lidded till. There is a large lockplate in the front.

Place of Origin

Great Britain

Date

1200-1300 (made)

Artist/maker

Unknown

Materials and Techniques

Oak, carved

Dimensions

Height: 50.6 cm
Width: 109 cm
Depth: 48.2 cm

Object history note

Bought for £100 from Arthur Watson, (a dealer) of 13, Saville Row, London W1
RF 26/3246 H.Clifford Smith notes that it had been received 'from a dealer in the West of England', and was 'said to have originally come from a church in Hampshire'

Descriptive line

Chest, British 13th century, with roundels of chip-carved decoration

Materials

Oak; Iron

Techniques

Carving

Categories

Furniture

Collection code

FWK

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Qr_O93911
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