16th century oak linenfold chest

Joined chest with linenfold panels of remarkably small size. This diminutive chest, the smallest of its type recorded, was probably made in early sixteenth-century Bruges were area joiners produced case furniture enriched with linenfold panels in a vast range of specialized forms and sizes. Chests discovered in Bruges with nearly identical carved panels – including a massive example with six front panels – are illustrated in Meubles Flamands Anciens (Bruges Musees Communaux) by Valentin Vermeersch.

Floorboards replaced in the seventeenth-century; lock and hasp modern.

Extensive traces of early red paint.