Dowry chest

• CE00053
• 1801-1900
• Pinewood and walnut: Assembled - Carved

This historicist chest, probably created in Catalonia, copies a Renaissance dowry chest. These are spanish reinterpretations of the dowry chests of the 16th century, part of the wife's dowry at the moment of marriage. The most well known were the ones created in the East, specially those from Catalonia and Baleares, since the 15th century. Because of the rosette and coffer decorations, this work seems to copy Renaissance Iberian chests.

Until the 17th/18th century, chests were the most common storage furniture, later on they were mostly used in poor and rural areas.

One of the main characteristics of Catalonian chests, which were being made until the 19th century, is their construction system, with four slottedd panels , and there being drawers in the interior. These dowry chests are similar to the kutxas from the Basque Country.