Gothic front chest Oak, wrought iron. Three sides and the lid densely studded with iron bands with flower-shaped ends. Two of the lid straps extended to form hinges, the middle one as a hasp for the butterfly fitting in front of the front lock. Two hasps and two stabilizing bars in the lid later. H 87.5, W 107, D 56 cm. Late 15th / first half of the 16th century. This splendidly studded, early and unusually well-preserved chest was a rare piece of luxury furniture. The iron fittings had no constructive function, but merely displayed the wealth of the client. Such chests were often used as safes for important documents, money or valuables. The size of this piece of furniture suggests that it was a bridal chest filled with the dowry, linen, laundry and valuable household items. The original assumption that this type of chest only originated in Westphalia has already been refuted by Otto von Falke. Heinrich Kreisel later specified this in more detail. It probably originated in Westphalia, but then spread up the Rhine via the Lower Rhine to Switzerland, Alsace and Lorraine. He was also able to identify pieces from Thuringia, Saxony and Bohemia. Literature Cf. Kreisel, Die Kunst des deutschen Möbels, 1st vol. from the beginnings to the High Baroque, Munich 1968, p. 26, fig. 42 ff. Cf. Colsman, Möbel. Gothic to Art Nouveau. The Collection in the Museum of Applied Arts Cologne, Cologne 1999, cat. No. 29.