20 
House & Garden 
OUR EARLIEST TYPE OF FURNITURE 
Chests, Caskets and Coffers Wherein Feudal Housewives 
and Brides of Old Kept Their Treasures 
ABBOT McCLURE 
N EXT to the bed whereon to sleep, the 
chair whereon to sit and the table 
whereat to eat, the chest is the earliest piece 
of furniture we possess. 
Without it, whatever our forefathers 
might have done, our foremothers certainly 
could not have kept house. A house with¬ 
out a chest—just as now one without a 
closet—would have been as impossible for 
the average family to cope with as it would 
have been hard for a man to get 
along with a suit of clothes in 
which the pockets had been left 
out. In the days before closets 
or cupboards or wardrobes were 
thought of—and that is not, after 
all, so far back in history—the 
tidy housewife’s idea of “a place 
for everything and everything in 
its place” unquestionably was the 
chest, the family hold-all. 
The Classes of Chests 
Chests, caskets and coffers, all 
belong to the same ancient and 
honorable family. The general 
definition fits each,—that of a box 
of wood or metal with hinged lid. 
The casket is least in size, 
usually excels in delicacy of 
workmanship and richness of 
ornament, and is generally de¬ 
signed to hold jewels and other 
precious articles. 
The coffer, which is the pre¬ 
decessor of the modern safe, is 
larger than the casket, and may 
vary in size from the dimensions 
stealing by the household thief or bolder 
assaults of armed robbers. 
Last of all, the common household chest, 
with its manifold uses, was most plentiful 
in its distribution and appears in all sizes, 
shapes, and materials. 
Whatever its descent, we may be certain 
that the chest is the direct ancestor of cab¬ 
inets, closets, presses and chests-of-drawers. 
It was evolved as a practical and tangible 
answer to the eternally pressing 
question of ‘‘where shall things 
be put?” a question prompted by 
the instinctive and subconscious 
conviction of the primitive house¬ 
wife that order is Heaven's first 
law. It came in answer to the 
demands of necessity long before 
architects had bent their efforts 
to contriving cupboards and 
closets and sundry other kinds 
of convenient storage spaces, 
long before cabinet-makers had 
cunningly devised all manner of 
drawers, pigeonholes and shelves 
where small movables might 
safely be stowed. 
Still a Place for It 
Notwithstanding all our pres¬ 
ent facilities for storage, there 
is still plenty of need for the 
chest. It is by no means com¬ 
pletely superseded in either use¬ 
fulness or decorative value. Let 
us look for a moment at the kinds 
of chests most readily available. 
(Continued on page 70) 
of a small chest to an article of ponderous 
weight that would deter anyone from at¬ 
tempting to budge it. As the coffer in early 
days was really the strong box, or safe- 
deposit receptacle, the chief requisite in its 
construction was strength. We find, there¬ 
fore, that it was bound about with massive 
bands of metal, riveted together and sup¬ 
plied with locks of sufficient size and in¬ 
tricacy to thwart attempts at picking and 
The chest above is an excel¬ 
lent example of Spanish work¬ 
manship. The wood is ven¬ 
eered and bindings are brass 
The Turkish chest to the left 
bears a slight resemblance to 
the Spanish chest above. It is 
covered with velvet and gold 
A 11th Century oak chest shows bun feet and decorative panels 
of applied molding. There is a distinct Jacobean feeling about 
the design. Courtesy of the Pennsylvania Historical Society 
A rather unusual type is represented by a late 11th Century or 
very early lSth Century Bermuda cedar chest. The cabriole 
legs, shaped apron and decorative dovetailing distinguish it 
