Chest Front
ca. 1400 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Walnut panel from the front of a chest, carved with Gothic tracery and with an armorial shield, charged with three fleurs-de-lys (effaced), crowned. Part of the iron lock-plate remains.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Walnut, carving |
| Brief description | Walnut blind tracery chest front, French, ca 1400 |
| Physical description | Walnut panel from the front of a chest, carved with Gothic tracery and with an armorial shield, charged with three fleurs-de-lys (effaced), crowned. Part of the iron lock-plate remains. |
| Dimensions |
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| Credit line | Given by J. Starkie Gardner |
| Bibliographic reference | ROE, Fred: Ancient Coffers and Cupboards. (London, 1902), p 70-71, with image.
The crumbling fragment of a French coffer-front dating from the end of the fourteenth century exists today in the South Kensington Museum (see note 23). The workmanship of this is as fine, as anything of its kind which can be seen on the Continent, and though a mere wreck and hopelessly decayed, enough remains to give an idea of the pitch of magnificence to which work of this class could be carried on the surface of a single panel. The tracery, which shows but very slight inclination towards the Flamboyant, is fashioned by a series of most exquisite curves into representations of the national fleur-de-lis backed by a range of mullions. The cutting, where time and worm have spared it, is sharp, clear, and not too deep. The material used is walnut. If this specimen is compared with a purely English example of approximately the same date—the Faversham coffer, for instance-the vast distinction between national quality and handling is at once obvious. The English piece is bolder and its leading lines are more pronounced, though it does not approach the French fragment in richness of detail or quaintness of invention. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | 36-1887 |
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| Record created | June 24, 2009 |
| Record URL |
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