GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Wooden chests, typically found in the main living areas of medieval and Renaissance interiors like the bedroom, the hall, and the study, served many purposes and were standard pieces of personal storage furniture during this period. Over the centuries, craftsmen produced chests throughout Europe. As a result, their shape, material, decoration, and internal makeup varied depending on the region, intended use, and interior location. Aside from those with domed lids, many chests were multi-purpose, serving as extra seating or tables in addition to being storage containers.
Wood was the material of choice for most chests, and many elaborately carved ones depict decorative trends and period styles. Exterior decoration ranged from colorfully painted scenes, marquetry and wood inlays, highly carved floral and geometric patterns, or architectural motifs inspired by Romanesque, Gothic, and classical imagery.
Chests were often situated next to the bed in bedrooms or along hallway walls. Inside, all sorts of personal valuables could be stored including tableware, family records, important documents, books, linens, money, and jewelry. While most household chests were designed to be portable for easy travel, many were large enough to carry long unfolded garments too. Chests that stored valuables were secured with a built in lock, as seen on this chest in the Reves Collection.
Drawn from
- Eva Oledzka, Medieval & Renaissance Interiors in Illuminated Manuscripts (London: The British Library, 2016), 116-118.
- Dallas Museum of Art, The Wendy and Emery Reves Collection (Dallas, Texas: Dallas Museum of Art, 1985), 165.
NOTES
TEXT that is not bold is original transcribed text. Text in bold is paraphrased. NEEDS CLOSE REVIEW!!
TMS Updates:
- search dates
- Provenance
- Geography Xrefs - Place of Origin
- title
Wooden chests were the most popular pieces of medieval and Renaissance storage furniture, especially in the main living areas - the bedroom, the hall and the study. Chest were widely used throughout Europe, and over the centuries there were many regional variations in the form, internal structure and decoration, and the materials from which they were made. Most chests were made from wood and the earliest medieval chests known to us are just very crudely hollowed-out tree trunks. More elaborate ones were finished with more care and their decoration reflected contemporary trends. They could be painted, inlaid with other types of wood, carved and embellished with figurative, floral, geometric or architectural decoration, such as Romanesque blind arcading, Gothic tracery or classically inspired motifs.
Chests would usually be arranged along the walls in halls to next to the bed in bedrooms. They were used for storage of all sorts of valuables: tableware (silverware and maiolica), linen, books, money, jewelry, documents, family records and so on. Many medieval and Renaissance chests for domestic use were portable, but often big enough to hold unfolded, long clothes.
Chests for valuables were lockable as is the case with this one in the Reves' Collection. Large furniture chests were used for storage at home. Smaller coffers or caskets were utilized both at home and as travelling trunks or strongboxes for transporting valuable items on trips.
Most chests, apart from the ones with domes lids, could serve as seats, especially if arranged along walls or beds. Even the free-standing ones were effective seats or even tables, especially in studies, where lockable storage was needed for important paperwork, expensive books and sometimes even scientific instruments or collections of all sorts of curious and/or costly objects.
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Cultures
Geography
Process/materials
Historical periods
Individuals
Subject terms
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
Until 1985: Emery Reves (1904-1983) and Wendy Reves (1916-2007) (owned jointly), La Pausa, Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France [1]
From 1985: Dallas Museum of Art, The Wendy and Emery Reves Collection, gift of Wendy Reves (1916-2007) [1]
[1] According to: Olivier Meslay and Martha MacLeod, From Chanel to Reves (Dallas, Texas: Dallas Museum of Art, 2015), 4-5.
AUDIO ASSETS
VIDEO ASSETS
IMAGE ASSETS
WEB RESOURCES
ARCHIVAL RESOURCES
FUN FACTS
TEACHING IDEAS
RULES
Apply to objects where id equals 5297317
Category
rules_operator
AND
General Description
Wooden chests, typically found in the main living areas of medieval and Renaissance interiors like the bedroom, the hall, and the study, served many purposes and were standard pieces of personal storage furniture during this period. Over the centuries, craftsmen produced chests throughout Europe. As a result, their shape, material, decoration, and internal makeup varied depending on the region, intended use, and interior location. Aside from those with domed lids, many chests were multi-purpose, serving as extra seating or tables in addition to being storage containers.
Wood was the material of choice for most chests, and many elaborately carved ones depict decorative trends and period styles. Exterior decoration ranged from colorfully painted scenes, marquetry and wood inlays, highly carved floral and geometric patterns, or architectural motifs inspired by Romanesque, Gothic, and classical imagery.
Chests were often situated next to the bed in bedrooms or along hallway walls. Inside, all sorts of personal valuables could be stored including tableware, family records, important documents, books, linens, money, and jewelry. While most household chests were designed to be portable for easy travel, many were large enough to carry long unfolded garments too. Chests that stored valuables were secured with a built in lock, as seen on this chest in the Reves Collection.
Drawn from
- Eva Oledzka, Medieval & Renaissance Interiors in Illuminated Manuscripts (London: The British Library, 2016), 116-118.
- Dallas Museum of Art, The Wendy and Emery Reves Collection (Dallas, Texas: Dallas Museum of Art, 1985), 165.
Fun Facts
Archival Resources
Web Resources
Notes
TEXT that is not bold is original transcribed text. Text in bold is paraphrased. NEEDS CLOSE REVIEW!!
TMS Updates:
- search dates
- Provenance
- Geography Xrefs - Place of Origin
- title
Wooden chests were the most popular pieces of medieval and Renaissance storage furniture, especially in the main living areas - the bedroom, the hall and the study. Chest were widely used throughout Europe, and over the centuries there were many regional variations in the form, internal structure and decoration, and the materials from which they were made. Most chests were made from wood and the earliest medieval chests known to us are just very crudely hollowed-out tree trunks. More elaborate ones were finished with more care and their decoration reflected contemporary trends. They could be painted, inlaid with other types of wood, carved and embellished with figurative, floral, geometric or architectural decoration, such as Romanesque blind arcading, Gothic tracery or classically inspired motifs.
Chests would usually be arranged along the walls in halls to next to the bed in bedrooms. They were used for storage of all sorts of valuables: tableware (silverware and maiolica), linen, books, money, jewelry, documents, family records and so on. Many medieval and Renaissance chests for domestic use were portable, but often big enough to hold unfolded, long clothes.
Chests for valuables were lockable as is the case with this one in the Reves' Collection. Large furniture chests were used for storage at home. Smaller coffers or caskets were utilized both at home and as travelling trunks or strongboxes for transporting valuable items on trips.
Most chests, apart from the ones with domes lids, could serve as seats, especially if arranged along walls or beds. Even the free-standing ones were effective seats or even tables, especially in studies, where lockable storage was needed for important paperwork, expensive books and sometimes even scientific instruments or collections of all sorts of curious and/or costly objects.
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Cultures
Geography
Process/materials
Historical periods
Individuals
Subject terms
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
Until 1985: Emery Reves (1904-1983) and Wendy Reves (1916-2007) (owned jointly), La Pausa, Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France [1]
From 1985: Dallas Museum of Art, The Wendy and Emery Reves Collection, gift of Wendy Reves (1916-2007) [1]
[1] According to: Olivier Meslay and Martha MacLeod, From Chanel to Reves (Dallas, Texas: Dallas Museum of Art, 2015), 4-5.
AUDIO ASSETS
VIDEO ASSETS
rules
Apply To
Objects
id
Equals
5297317
source file
object_notes_4_a-0161.xml.nores