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Posted 10 years ago
kpascuzzo
(1 item)
How can you not love a trunk! This one had me at hello! I'm not interested in the value, but I would love to know where it came from? or how to tell who painted it? It's old, dovetailed, and stamped 1783
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I believe this is a chest and not a trunk. It does not seem to be made for travel. It is a great piece.
that makes sense - thanks @fortapache. Wonder how I find more info on it as a chest? :)
With the two birds and the date, it seems to be a marriage chest.
Try a search for painted marriage chest 18th century.
It can be called too dower chest or hope chest!
thats a great idea @kryratango. thank you!
Hello ,wonderful marriage chest, There is a lot that is impressive about this chest.
The detail is extraordinary. Important to understand that this chest joins to families,
possibly noble ones. I say that because of the crown shaped lock,as well the monolithic writing of the families initials. you will notice that each side is different.
the one on the left appears to be a 3 letter monogram ,(I could be wrong) to me to contain the letters D/ C with a large center letter being an A ( possibly) an H. The second monolithic set of letters is more difficult.
I believe it to be a 4 letter monogram , J /C the large center letter being an A (possibly) an H.I am not sure of the fourth letter (possibly a Maiden name). What I find very intriguing is that I have two books on "Monograms and Alphabetic Devices By Hayward and Blanche Cirker Copyright 1970 these books contain about 10 different styles mostly (British and French ),The earliest being 1830 others are 1870/ 74 and 1881 the styles on this trunk are not in those books.Which makes sense as this trunk has an earlier date. Certainly the way the artist joins the larger letter with a ring. The reason I bring this up is that the artistic style of the lettering could potentially tell the artist.Maybe there are other books with monolithic writing from this earlier time period.You may want to seek out a historian that is a specialist in monolithic writing. The symbolism is all over the place on this one ,two different yet similar painted sides with the tying of the ribbon, only 2 flowers in the basket,love birds etc. I'll search around and see what else I can find. good luck with it and thanks for the post.
Wow- thank you so much to taking the time to write all that! That is awesome and quite nice of you!
Your welcome I just like working the puzzle, You can goggle: the project Gutenberg E-book of Monograms and ciphers ,these people might know more. Prior to 1700 only nobility used monograms.After that date commoners used it to try to be like nobility. Artists did use monograms to mark their work,so those paintings could contain the artists monogram,who knows? When you search for: painted chests images 1700s ,mostly pictures of Pennsylvania German/dutch chests come up.Just none of them have the extensive carvings this coffer has.
kpaseuzzo, I think you can mark it as Mystery Solved now.
That's so great. That k you very much for all your help!