Rare Late Medieval 16th Century German Wrought Iron Oak Chest or Stollentruhe

Presenting an absolutely gorgeous and historic 17th century English carved oak dowry chest. Made of solid oak in England,...

PRESENTING a GORGEOUS 19C English Naval Captain’s Sea Chest. Made in Britain, probably England, circa 1851-55. Early Victorian Era. Made of...

PRESENTING AN ‘ABOLUTELY STUNNING’ PIECE OF IRISH FURNITURE HISTORY, namely, an 18C Irish George II Mahogany Silver Chest on the most amazing and EXCEPTIONAL Carved Stand. Made circa 1745, by an obviously ‘top quality’ Irish Georgian furniture...

PRESENTING A GORGEOUS and beautifully proportioned Mid-18th Century George II Miniature Campaign Bureau Chest on later Chest/Stand. Mid-18th century, made in Britain, circa 1760-1770. The bureau chest sits on a later stand/chest, that we estimate is late 19th century, circa 1860-1880. It is also British. We believe that the primary wood in this piece is either Elm or Sycamore with mahogany elements. Classic Campaign style miniature Bureau Chest, with its ORIGINAL George II brass hardware, including handles on the sides for easy carriage, which is what proves to us, that this chest was made for campaign purposes. The brasses are GORGEOUS and are classically George II in style, design and construction. The quality, thickness and patina to the brasses, is what ‘initially’ tells us, that this is a ‘period’ piece and not a reproduction. Likewise, the dovetailing detail to the drawers, tells us that this was a hand crafted piece and certainly NOT machine made. The secondary woods appear to be a combination of oak and pine, exactly as one would expect. The central keyhole escutcheons are FANTASTIC and are in the form of a pair of opposing ‘lyres’. We have never seen anything like them! Beautiful natural patina! The ‘brasses’ look like they have been polished a ‘little too often and vigorously’, over the piece’s 250+ years history … BUT … the bonus of this cleaning is the creation of a rather appealing, '2 Tone effect’, on the patina of the wood around the brasses. The Bureau has a flat gallery...

Presenting an absolutely gorgeous and extremely unique and rare 19th century British Tunbridgeware hair pin/bobbin or slide. This slide is unlike any of it’s kind we have seen before…. it is a very rare survivor ! From circa 1860–1880. Made of walnut with gorgeous marquetry inlay on the entirety of the front with classic Tunbridgeware micro-mosaic all over the front. The rear is walnut. The marquetry inlay appears to be various different woods, namely, maple, walnut and satinwood. Would have been worn in a Lady’s hair bun with the micro-mosaic facing forward. This would have belonged to a very elegant lady in the mid to late 19th century. Tunbridge ware is a form of decoratively inlaid woodwork, typically in the form of boxes, that is characteristic of Tonbridge and the spa town of Royal Tunbridge Wells in Kent in the 18th and 19th centuries. The decoration typically consists of a mosaic of many very small pieces of different coloured woods that form a pictorial vignette. Shaped rods and slivers of wood were first carefully glued together, then cut into many thin slices of identical pictorial veneer with a fine saw. Elaborately striped and feathered bandings for framing were pre-formed in a similar fashion. There is a collection of Tunbridge ware in the Tunbridge Wells Museum and Art Gallery in Tunbridge Wells. The famous makers of Tunbridge ware were in the Tunbridge Wells area of Kent; their most notable work was from circa 1830-1900. Early makers of Tunbridge ware, in Tunbridge Wells in the mid-18th century, were the Burrows family, and Fenner and Co. In the 19th century, around 1830, James Burrows invented a technique of creating mosaics from wooden tesserae. Henry Hollamby, apprenticed to the Burrows family, set up on his own in 1842 and became an important manufacturer of Tunbridge ware, employing about 40 people. Edmund Nye (1797–1863) and his father took over the Fenner company when William Fenner retired in 1840, after 30 years in partnership with him. Thomas Barton (1819–1903), previously apprenticed at the Wise factory, joined the Nyes in 1836, and worked as Nye’s designer; he took over the business in 1863 and continued there until his death. In Tonbridge (near to Tunbridge Wells), George Wise (1703–1779) is known to have had a business in 1746. It continued with his son Thomas, and Thomas’s nephew George (1779–1869), who took over in 1806. In its early years the company made articles such as workboxes and tea caddies with prints of popular views; later items had pictures created from mosaics. Their workshop in Tonbridge, Wise’s Tunbridge Ware Manufactory, was next to the Big Bridge over the Medway; the building was demolished in 1886 to widen the approach to the bridge. Tunbridge ware became popular with visitors to the spa town of Tunbridge Wells, who bought them as souvenirs and gifts. Articles included cribbage boards, paperweights, writing slopes, snuffboxes and glove boxes. At the Great Exhibition of 1851, Tunbridge ware by Edmund Nye, Robert Russell and Henry Hollamby was shown; Edmund Nye received a commendation from the judges for his work. He exhibited a table depicting a mosaic of a ship at sea; 110,800 tesserae were used in making the picture. The manufacturers of Tunbridge ware were cottage industries, and they were no more than nine in Tunbridge Wells and one in Tonbridge. The number declined in the 1880s; competent craftsmen were hard to find, and public tastes changed. After the death of Thomas Barton in 1903 the only surviving firm was Boyce, Brown and Kemp, which closed in 1927. Marquetry was an old technique which was continued by Nye and Barton to create images such as birds or butterflies. ‘Green Oak’ as caused by the fungus Chlorociboria aeruginascens. Stickware and half-square mosaic was invented by James Burrows in about 1830: a bunch of wooden sticks of different colours, each having triangular or diamond-shaped cross section, were tightly glued together; in the case of stickware, the resulting block was dried, then turned to form an article such as the base of a pincushion. For half-square mosaic, thin slices were taken from the composite block, and applied to a surface.[1][2][4] Tesselated mosaic, was a development by James Burrows of half-square mosaic; it was adopted by George Wise and Edmund Nye. Minute tesserae were used to form a wide variety of geometric and pictorial designs. Many sorts of wood were used for the various colours; about 40 were in regular use. Only natural colors were used; green was provided by “green oak”, produced by the action of fungus on fallen oak. Designs for articles were often taken from designs of Berlin wool work.

Presenting a lovely 19th century pair of Polish/German stoneware figures. Quite rare! Not a matching pair but similarly themed, with the little girl holding a basket of kittens with one kitten climbing up her front and the other of a little boy climbing a tree stump with a snail at the base. The ‘Little Girl’ is painted stoneware or earthenware and we are of the opinion is Polish in origin (or possibly Russian). It does not have any identifiable markings but it was originally with another similar style figurine (not included in this sale) which had markings that we were of the opinion were Polish markings. The ‘Little Boy’ is painted pottery and we are of the opinion that it is either Polish or German in origin. It is slightly different in style an texture to the girl and has a more ‘bisque’ finish. The facial features are more defined and remind me of German bisque dolls...

A very impressive Westphalian Gothic chest or ‚Stollentruhe’, Westphalia, Germany, circa 1500-1550. Wrought iron mounted oak, partially carved. The monumental rectangular standing chest with full-height stiles, extensively mounted with wrought ironwork straps terminating in quatrefoil finials which ’wrap’ around the chest edges. These are fixed with convex head nails. The ironwork with some remains of an originally red painted surface. In addition, running along the edges of the lid at the front and sides is a plain iron band, close-nailed. The feet of the two front legs are finely carved on the front face, in low relief with a rectangular arched ’panel’ depicting on the left a lion, on the right a dragon holding each a coat of arms. Regarding the age of circa 500 years, this coffer is in exceptionally good condition, with only smaller restorations.  Comparative literature • Baumeier, Stefan, Beschlagene Kisten; Die ältesten Truhen Westfalens, Essen, 2012. • Falke, Otto von, Deutsche Möbel...

This standing chest is of clamp-front construction, extensively decorated with long, ironwork straps with quatrefoil finials which ‘wrap’ around it, and has an ornate, central lockplate, and front legs with full, height stiles. The ironwork straps and finials are fixed with convex, headed nails: running along the front, five long straps; the two side straps; and the five straps on the top. On the chest front, centrally placed, is a large, iron lockplate with four outer, radiating spade finals in each corner and three, superimposed spade finials (a symbol of nobility) which are pierced with the initials ‘BB’. The lockplate receives a corresponding, external hasp fitted to the lid. Below the floor of the chest, the two front stile legs retain most of their original height. The lid is supported by substantial iron strap hinges that extend right down the back of the chest. Inside the chest at the left end is a shallow, oak till. Construction The chest is of joined, 'clamp-front' construction, reinforced by the nailed, iron mounts. In total it uses ten, oak boards which were riven and planed. The back and front are each formed from a large single plank held to the full height stiles by long, pegged tenons. The sides are also single boards joined into the stiles using long tenons held by dowels, and extend down below the chest bottom, concealing the ends of the bottom boards. The bottom consists of a single board cut into the sides and shallow rebates in the stiles. The front and back boards are dowelled into the bottom boards. The lid which overhangs the sides has a narrow cleat at each end, and consists of one wide plank which has bowed a little as a result of shrinkage. Ironwork : The wrought ironwork straps, lockplate, hasp and lock all appear all appear to be early, and of the same original manufacture and are fixed with convex headed nails. There is mild dark staining of the oak around the iron mounts, possibly because of low tannin content in the oak. Length 172 cm., 67 ¾ in., Height 71.5 cm., 28 ¼ in., Depth 63 cm., 24 ¾ in., Related to: No 900:2-1904 V&A Museum, London. Stadtmuseum Dusseldorf. Decorative Arts Museum Berlin. Museen Schleswig-Holstein & Hamburg. A related example featuring elaborately-carved feet and formerly in the Horsham Museum, West Sussex, sold at Christie's in 2010 for £97,250 and another example, again with carved feet sold at Sothebys in 2006 for £48,000. Literature: A similar example is illustrated in H. Lüttgens, Alt- Aachener Wohnkultur; Ein Rundgang durch ein altes Aachener Haus im Wohnstil des 18. Jahrhunderts, Aachen, n.d., ill. 12, and another comparable iron-bound chests...

This large chest stands on high legs prolonging the lateral jambs. Presenting a sober and severe appearance the chest still belongs to the Medieval tradition. The piece is made from very high quality Hungarian wood. The jambs are joined to the facade and the lateral sides thanks to pegged mortise and tenon securing a great stability and squareness between each parts. The upper lid is made of two joined parts and so is the facade. The ironwork is present all over the surface of the chest and brings both an additional stability to the construction as well as a rich decor. The lid is secured with hinges. Hinges also run all over the chest in horizontal and vertical lines, ending in a floral motif. The hasp lock is also very ornamental. Those chests always present important proportions especially when they are made early in the period. This model was very popular in Germany and stayed in vogue until the 16th century. However the feet Gothic decor...

A very impressive Westphalian Gothic chest or ‚Stollentruhe’, Westphalia, Germany, circa 1500-1550. Wrought iron mounted oak, partially carved. The monumental rectangular standing ch...

Lift top chest with typical carved Gothic tracery work adorning the front panel, of rather small proportion, beautiful color and extraordinary condition...

Amazing Chest, Italy, late 16th century 93 x 214 x 74 cm Rectangular shaped chest, in walnut wood. Four bracket feet, with four corners with sculpted leaves. Table top with owl's bea...