A 16th century boarded cypress-wood and 'pitch'-decorated chest, North Italian, dated 1592


Made for export to EnglandOf dove-tailed construction, the decoration filled with mastic/pitch, the lid of two thick boards with an applied floral and ribbon-decorated front edge, the front board divided into seven decorative sections, each with alternate designs of paired angled S-scrolls and addorsed mythical beasts, inscribed across the upper edge 'IN GOD IS AL MY TRVST' and centred by the date '1592 OCTOBER XX', and with numerous sets of initials throughout the elegant design, the separate base with deep cut-away sides and decorated to the front with paired hounds and wild boar, 182.5cm wide x 65.5cm deep x 79.5cm high, (71 1/2in wide x 25 1/2in deep x 31in high)
|Provenance:Reputedly the property of the Glendining family of Pool Anthony Farm in Tiverton, Devon, from circa 1800.W. Cecil Glendining. Colin Richard Glendining (d. 2000). Thence by descent to the present owner. In April 1962, this chest was the subject of one of the 'Collector's Questions' in Country Life (26 April 1962, Vol. CXXXI, No. 3399, p. 962), when W. Cecil Glendining wrote in, asking for any information about it as he had had it in his 'house for a great many years'.By family tradition, the initials relate to Glendining marriages. Whilst one of the sets of initials is 'LG', the copious sets of initials rather suggest that the chest was the property of a corporation or possibly a church, and carved with the initials of successive office-holders or incumbents. 'IN GOD IS AL MY TRUST' is the motto of the Worshipful Company of Pewterers.