A Gothic oak chest
Carved oak with iron mountings and lock. Covered witth iron bands. Six of the bands to the lid also function as hinges, and the central band wraps around the corpus to form the lock plate. The back panel replaced, some nails lost. H 82, W 198, D 54 cm.
Westphalia, late 15th / early 16th C.
Coffers such as this were rare and luxurious items of furniture in the Gothic era. The copius iron mountings serve no functional purpose, but are merely designed to display the wealth of the patron. Chests such as these were often used as safety deposit boxes for important documents, money, and other valuable items. They were also used as bridal gifts containing the dowry which the bride took with her into her husband's home.
The former assumption that these coffers were only produced in Westphalia was already rebuffed by Otto von Falke. This was later rectified by Heinrich Kreisel, who was able to prove that this form did indeed originate in Westphalia, but soon spread to the Lower Rhine Region, Switzerland, Alsace, and Lorraine. He was even able to identify pieces from Thuringia, Saxony, and Bohemia.
Literature
Cf. Kreisel, Die Kunst des deutschen Möbels, vol. I, Munich 1968, p. 26 & illus. 45.
Cf. Windisch-Graetz, Möbel Europas, Von der Romanik bis zur Spätgotik, Munich 1982, illus. 146.