A Very High Status and Stunning Tudor Oak Marriage Chest. English. Circa 1540

A Very High Status and Stunning Tudor Oak Marriage Chest. English. Circa 1540.

English Oak Boarded Marriage Chest circa 1540. This is a high-status quality piece of furniture. It has been constructed from boards of around one-and-a-half inches in depth. The front is finely carved with four portrait panels set out as two pairs of men and women, and this was probably made as a “Marriage Chest”.

The roundels are double ringed with carved and punched decoration set within leaf and bud spandrels to each corner. The row of roundels is framed above and below by horizontal lines of “dog tooth” motifs. The top and the bottom of the front board are then set with double lines of ropework moulding which is repeated on the vertical stiles giving an overall unity of design.

Below the board are plain spandrels to the front and side of the front stiles. The lid is fixed by its original ring hinges to the top of the two board back of the Chest. There is some unevenness to the right-hand area of the top board which must have been due to an element of sapwood. Interestingly there is no lock plate fitted to this chest which may well indicate that the family it was made for owned a highly secure property making the need for one unnecessary.

Fantastic colour and patination.

Provenance- private English collection.

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This object is eligible for a Certificate of BADA Provenance

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