Oak chest inlaid with architectural decoration in various woods. English, late 16th century.

Rectangular chest of 'Nonsuch' type, oak, with inlay and marquetry decoration of various woods.

Bequeathed by Sir Aston Webb

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.

The decoration may have been influenced by the published engraved ornamental designs of Vredeman de Vries.

This type of chest is characterised by its construction using dovetailed boards and decoration of geometrical and architectural designs in marquetry and inlay. In many respects they resemble chests made in Germany, and are now thought to have been made in London, particularly Southwark, by immigrants from northern Germany and the Netherlands from about 1560. Their decoration of picturesque towered buildings probably derive from 16th-century printed designs, such as those published by Hans Vredeman de Vries (1527-1604). During the twentieth century they came to be known as ’Nonsuch’ chests, after Henry VIII’s palace of Nonsuch in Surrey, because their decoration of fanciful buildings was thought, wrongly, to represent that building.

The chest was in the collection of Sir Aston Webb (1849-1930) the distinguished architect, whose commissions included the main facade of the Victoria & Albert Museum.

W.17:1-1931