Renaissance Iron-Bound Oak Strong Box

A Flemish Renaissance strong box, constructed from thick oak boards joined at the corners by exposed dovetails and extensively reinforced with wrought-iron straps. The boarded lid is similarly strengthened with transverse iron straps.

The large rectangular lockplate is embellished with a pair of applied architectural balusters, each with a moulded base, elongated shaft and rounded finial. Their distinctly Renaissance architectural character, with an absence of the tracery and cusped ornament associated with late Gothic metalwork, provides an important indication for dating the box to around 1530.

The box retains its substantial wrought-iron carrying handles, finely formed with knopped terminals and moulded central grips, together with its original lock and key. The handles indicate that the box was intended to be portable, providing secure storage for money, documents, valuables or other important possessions.

Its heavily iron-bound construction continues a well-established medieval Flemish tradition, examples of which survive in the Gruuthusemuseum in Bruges. The present box, however, combines this traditional method of construction with the newly fashionable Renaissance vocabulary evident in its lock furniture.