A RARE AND DOCUMENTED WELSH OAK CLAMP FRONT CHEST

A RARE AND DOCUMENTED WELSH OAK CLAMP FRONT CHEST

WELSH BORDERS / BLACK MOUNTAINS, 16TH CENTURY

the boarded top with cleated ends above a front carved with Renaissance style figures of a man and woman and centred with pair of fighting dragons, below a nulled frieze

77.2cm high, 115.2cm wide, 51.5cm deep

Provenance

The Howard Collection of Oak and Works of Art.

Literature

This exceptional chest is illustrated in Richard Bebb 'Welsh Furniture 1250-1950, A Cultural History of Craftsmanship and Design', vol.1, p.147, pl. 238. Bebb dates the chest to the 15th century and states that the 'Usk and Wye valleys' chests all had wide stiles often decorated with channel-moulding' and our current lot was 'the most elaborate of the group known would appear to be a domestic chest and of some importance.'