Chest thumbnail 1
Chest thumbnail 2
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Image of Gallery in South Kensington
Not currently on display at the V&A
On display at Oak House, West Bromwich

Chest

1200-1400 (made)
Artist/Maker
Unknown (made)
Place of origin
England (made)

On loan to to Oak House Museum, West Bromwich


Object details

Category
Furniture
Object type
Chest
Materials and techniques
oak, iron
Oak
Brief description
Oak chest, 1200-1400, English, 49/108a & 21/5875
Physical description
Clamped-front chest, the front stiles angled on the inner edge of the 'foot'. The wide front stiles both have vertical mouldings on either side. The front panel has horizontal mouldings along the top and bottom edges, where the back panel is plain. Underneath each end of the lid a shaped batten or cleat has been pegged with the chest front cut away on its top edge to receive the front of the batten. The back of the batten is enlarged and fits into a slot cut into the rear stile, secured by a large horizontal hinge dowel (probably c10-12cm long) that passes through the stile from the outside and through the batten. The bottom is a single board which is held in grooves in the front, back (which has crumbled along its sappy, lower edge) and sides.

There are three holes for hand-made iron locks with square, plain lockplates, and the lid retains remnants of nails for four lock hasps, three of which align with the locks. A crude 'coin' hole 3.5 x 1cm has been cut in the centre of the lid. It seems probable that the present locks have been added perhaps c1600-1700, replacing a single central original lock.

All the boards are single. Thickness of the stiles 4.5 to 5cm; thickness of the lid, front and back panels and sides 1.8 to 2.2cm.

Modifications
Both hinge battens and dowels appear to be very neat replacements. The lid is notably wormy.
Dimensions
  • Height: 47cm (Note: Measured by NH Sept 2016)
  • Width: 99cm
  • Depth: 37.5cm
Object history
Gift from Edmund Davis, Esq., Chilham Castle, North Canterbury. Was purchased by the donor in Guildford around 1906.

RP 21/5875, 49/108A

Condition: "worn, cracked and parts missing"

Loan to West Bromwich, 1951

Dating
The chest has been dated to the 13th century by Charles Tracy (1988) but recent research into clamped-front chests suggests that a later dating - even as late as the 16th century when broadly analogous chests were still being made in some regions of the British Isles - may be considered, taking particular account of the unusual hinging method. Further research is required to refine dating but recent dendrochronological analysis on SE English chests indicates that a 14th century date is certainly not implausible.
Summary
On loan to to Oak House Museum, West Bromwich
Bibliographic references
  • Charles Tracy, English Medieval Furniture and Woodwork (London, 1988), cat. no. 297 'Chest; of hutch-type construction, the front has a single panel, grooved above and below, and having three holes for locks (fitted with 18th century lock-plates); it is flanked by broad stiles shaped below and grooved; the back is similar to the front; the top has clamps on the underside at either end and is hinged by means of pivots inserted horizontally into the clamps through the back uprights (PL. 103). Given by Sir Edmund Davis Oak, 13th century 48.2 x 99 x 38.1 cm Mus. No. W.158 -1921 The chest was purchased by the donor in Surrey, and probably came from a Surrey church, Under the terms of the edict of Henry II in 1166 and the papal bull of Innocent III in the reign of King John, church chests, to receive the offerings of the faithful for the crusades, were to be placed in the church, with several locks, of which one was to be in the custody of the priest and the others held by trustworthy parishioners. The usual number of locks, as in this case, was three, the centre one for the priest, the other two for the churchwardens. The money slot in the lid could have been made as part of the above decrees; but the slot in this case appears to be later than the date of the chest, and was probably made so as to adapt the chest, on account of its small size, to a ‘Poor Man’s Box’ or alms box, which became a regular feature in churches under the order of Archbishop Cranmer and other authorities, to meet the distress caused by the dissolution of the monasteries (See P.M. Johnston, ‘Church Chests of the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries in England’, Arch.Jnl, LXIV, 1907, p. 301-04). In any case, it is probable that the hutch-type chests, being of lighter construction than either ‘dug-out’ or plank chests, were not intended to store plate and valuables. It has been suggested that the ‘hutch’ chests at All Saints, Hereford and Hereford Cathedral were used to store books (F. C. Morgan, ‘Church Chests of Herefordshire, Hereford, 1948, p. 4 (reprinted from Woolhope Club Trans, 1947))'.
  • Phillip Johnston Mainwaring, 'Church Chests of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries in England', Archeological Journal, LXIV, 1907, pp.243-306.
Collection
Furniture and Woodwork Collection
Accession number
W.158-1921

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Record createdJune 24, 2009
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O371874/chest-unknown/
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