Carved Chest in Pine, Central Europe, 1850

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This antique carved chest in pine wood is a Central European peasant chest with incised carving and traces of red … Read more This antique carved chest in pine wood is a Central European peasant chest with incised carving and traces of red polychromy. It originates from Central Europe, from the middle of the nineteenth century, where solid board was decorated with knife and compass.Incised carving — the chip-carving of the Alpine and Carpathian tradition — was the decoration of those with no access to pigments or cabinetmakers. It was set out with a compass and cut away with a knife, and its repertoire of rosettes and saltires repeated almost unchanged for centuries in dowry furniture.The case is solid pine with the stiles continued into feet and a single-piece lid with carved projections at the ends. The front boards are half-lapped and the base is reinforced with cross-battens.The front carries three registers of saltire rosettes and lanceolate leaves set out with the compass; the stiles, bands of chevrons. The lid repeats the motif at smaller scale. An earthy red was applied over the carving, of which a glaze remains, and the sides keep a painted leaf in the same red, more legible than the rest.The surface has taken a warm tone between honey and garnet, with old stabilised worm and losses along the edges. The carving has softened until it is almost tactile. There is no restoration and no filler.Its height of 54 cm makes it a coffee table, a bench at the foot of the bed or an entrance-hall piece. In a restrained interior, the incised carving brings texture without needing colour. See less