GOTHIC CHEST with napkin-fold decoration Southwest... Lot 21

GOTHIC CHEST with napkin-fold decoration Southwest France, late 15th - early 16th century Walnut Good condition; attached glides H. 66 cm, W. 195 cm, D. 64 cm Sober and well-architected, this gothic chest presents a series of six panels carved in the mass on the front, with a central recess around the scudiform lock entrance. The flap, made in one piece, opens onto the interior of a lateral locker. The frame is made of four walnut panels assembled with dovetails. The sides are smooth, with two wrought iron carrying handles at the bottom. On the main side, all the panels are decorated with the same napkin pleat pattern, whose outward flap design is rare enough to be noticed. It is found in a slightly stiffer form on a high-backed chair from the late fifteenth century (fig. 1) and in a softer version on the bed front of Rigaud d'Oureilles, seneschal of Agenais and Gascony under Louis XII (fig. 2). The pattern is here declined in pleated piping.