A RARE GEORGE II CHANNEL ISLANDS POLYCHROME PAINTED PINE CHEST ON STAND

A RARE GEORGE II CHANNEL ISLANDS POLYCHROME PAINTED PINE CHEST ON STAND

GUERNSEY, C.1750

painted with tulips and other flowers and leaves on a blue / green ground, the hinged top revealing a till, above two long drawers, the stand with a further drawer, on square section cabriole legs, the sides with traces of original sponged decoration

118.6cm high, 103cm wide, 53.5cm deep

Provenance

Martel Maides Auctions, Guernsey, 28th November 2002, lot 209.

Literature

Regional Furniture Society Newsletter, Summer 1994, No. 20, p. 10.

Regional Furniture Society Newsletter, Autumn 2011, No. 55, pp.3-4.

Catalogue Note

This rare painted 'dower' chest belongs to a small group of similar known examples. In his article in the Regional Furniture Society Newsletter, Summer 1994, Christopher Gilbert suggests that the possible origin for the painted design lies in 'the ornamental nail patterns on leather covered trunks in vogue on the Channel Islands c.1680-1760.' The use of tulips and carnations representing love and betrothal has a long tradition in Europe and Gilbert suggested Frisian or Baltic inspiration for the decoration. In his article in the Regional Furniture Society Newsletter No.55, Autumn 2011, John Vost pointed to the similarities between painted furniture in America, particularly New Jersey and Pennsylvania and the Channel Island chests. He also speculated that these chests, wherever they appear, either on the Channel Islands, London or America, there is also evidence of a Huguenot or Calvinist population.

Related examples include: a chest sold at Sotheby's, The Tristram Jellinek Collection, 9th & 10th May 1996, lot 306, another example dated '1754' originally sold at Sotheby's, Sussex, 1990, lot 223, now in the Guernsey Museum & Art Gallery Collection, St. Peter Port, Guernsey. An example with a base drawer and no stand is in the collection of the National Trust of Guernsey Folk & Costume Museum, Suamarez Park, Guernsey and a very closely related example was previously with Avon Antiques and Robert Young Antiques and offered at Bonham's, The Oak Interior, 20th September 2017, lot 318.