Coffer, cypress wood, Portugal or England, 1603-1649

Chest on stand, the front of the chest and the stand engraved with a design emphasised with black paste. The design on the chest shows 3 panels (a double-headed eagle under an arch with two rosettes, on either side of a central panel depicting the English royal arms between drawn curtains, with borders of guilloche. The design on the stand shows a pair of scaly fish symmetrically arranged either side of a double S-scroll, with borders of guilloche. On all four sides, the stand's top edge is cut with an ogee moulding.

The chest sits several cm into a rebate in the stand and is now loose in the stand although there are signs that in the past it was fixed with nails. The lid is held on four ring hinges (original). There is an internal lock.

The interior is fitted at the right end with a lidded till, the front edge of the lid with moulding (one corner has been sawn off). The upper edges of the front, back and side boards have been punched with a repeating pattern of alternating diamond and 'ship's wheel' or flower head.

Construction
The chest with mitred dovetails. The back consists of one wide (48cm board) with a narrow strip along the top, to which are nailed 3 edge battens along the ends and front. The lid consists of 2 boards, one 48cm deep the other a thin strip. Two battens have been nailed to the underside of the lid, posibly at an early date.

Modifications
The till lid with one corner removed. The surfaces have been heavily cleaned.

FTIR microscopy analysis of the filled decoration showed pine resin (Brenda Keneghan, 21/2/2006)

Bought from Mrs Marshall of Tiverton (Devon) for £10
Display history: on display in gallery 1 in 1923 but in store 6 by 1962; then it came back on display in gallery 54 (the old English Primary galleries) by 1976 before coming off display in 1997.

Object sampling carried out by Jo Darrah, V&A Science; drawer/slide reference 1/1.

The double-headed eagle is a very ancient symbol adopted by Turks and the Byzantine emperor, thence emperor Frederick II (in the 13th century) and subsequent Holy Roman emperors - and used even more widely in Austro-Hungarian and Russian contexts. It may be a popular reference to James I's daughter Elizabeth of Bohemia, the ('Winter') queen of Frederick V, Elector of the Palatinate in Heidelberg from 1619, and to English support for the association of protestant princes in the Holy Roman Empire. It is also used on the coats of arms of the Speke family (Merseyside) and the city of Salisbury.

Chests and boxes made of cypress or cedar were useful particularly for storing valuable and fragile textiles. In 1666, John Evelyn mentioned the use of cypress for chests as 'resisting the Worm, Moth, and all putrefaction to eternity'. This example is unusual in retaining its original stand. Its decoration incorporates the Stuart royal arms, in use from 1603, but also the double-headed eagle, unusual in English heraldry.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, most cypress chests in England seem to have been made in northern Italy, although others were produced in Portuguese territories. It is not clear, however whether chests of this type were imported, or made in England.

299-1878