£1,512
Home & Heritage: Property from Three Historic Houses | 12346
Auction: Select Property from Penicuik House, Midlothian - 27th March 2024 at 10am
the hinged top above a panel front with two marquetry reserves depicting a man and woman each holding a crown above their head while standing beneath a canopy supported by owls, separated by arabesque and foliate inlay within chequer and dot-and-reel bands, the panel ends with iron bail handles
151cm wide, 66cm high, 62cm deep
Penicuik House, Midlothian
Note: The decoration on this chest is characteristic of 16th century German inlay, however it is now thought to have been made in London, particularly around Southwark, from the second half of the 16th century, probably by immigrant German joiners and inlayers. Chests of this type often feature architectural decoration assumed to represent Henry VIII's celebrated Nonsuch Palace, but current opinion is that it is more likely derived from 16th-century printed designs, for example those published by Hans Vredeman de Vries, (1527-1604).
Literature:Comparable examples illustrated, Percy Macquoid, The Age of Oak (1925), pp. 120 - 127, colour pl. VIII, figs 103-105; Victor Chinnery, Oak Furniture: The British Tradition (1995), p. 356, Fig.3:358; Margaret Jordain, English Decoration and Furniture of the Early Renaissance 1500 - 1650 (1924), p. 267, figs. 374 & 375; and Oliver Bracket, English Furniture Illustrated, p. 92, fig. 26, in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, [342:1, 2-1905].