An extremely rare 15th century, or possibly earlier, oak clamp-front chest, English, possibly Sussex or Surrey


Having a single-board hinged lid, the sides also formed from single boards, and all tenon jointed into a long groove formed to each broad stile support, the inner edge of each stile curve-profiled below the base board, 114.5cm wide x 41.5cm deep x 49.5cm high, (45in wide x 16in deep x 19in high)
|A related chest, dated to 1200-1400, is in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum [Museum no. W.158-1921], and is illustrated in H. Clifford Smith, Catalogue of English Furniture & Woodwork (1929), Vol. I, p. 67, [no. 303]. The chest was purchased by the donor, Sir Edmund Davis, in Guildford, Surrey, around 1906. As the chest is fitted with three locks it very possibly came from a Surrey church. Under the terms of the edict of Henry II in 1166 and the papal bull of Innocent III in the reign of King John (1199-1216), church chests, to receive the offerings of the faithful for the crusades, were to be placed in the church with several locks. One key was to be in the custody of the priest and the others held by trustworthy parishioners, such as Church Wardens. David Knell, English Country Furniture 1500-1900 (2000), p. 82, pl. 34, illustrates an almost identical chest to this lot. The author writes that 'chests of this type are sometimes depicted being used for clothes storage in 15th century illustrations'.