THREE LOCKS CHEST. WALNUT, IRON. SPAIN, 17TH CENTURY.
Antiques -
Reference: ZF0870
Town hall chest. Walnut wood. 17th century. A rectangular carved walnut chest with a flat lid and simple decoration on its fronts with smooth mouldings of different widths. It is slightly raised from the ground thanks to six legs with a cylindrical base on a flattened circle. On the outside, it has a series of wrought iron fittings (corners with a fleur-de-lis finish), two handles on the sides with openwork fittings and, on the front, three locks with a key with an openwork lock shield decorated with simplified plant elements. On the inside, it has a wooden partition on one side and situated high up, which consists of a rectangular space with a hinged lid and two small drawers at the bottom. The three iron keys have their worked and decorated eyes, with simple decorative elements on that side of the stem or central part and the usual flat keys. Chests with three locks are also known as “Town Hall” or “Council” chests, because both these and those with two keys were often used by religious, military or civil organisations to store valuable objects and documents, securing them by giving a key to each person in charge (as many people as there were locks and keys), so that they had to come together to open the cabinet. In many places in the Spanish territories, it was used as a municipal archive, following laws inherited from a pragmatic of 9 June 1500 with which the Catholic Monarchs obliged the Councils of their territories to build town halls, prisons and have a chest of privileges and deeds. Despite having been abundant in their time, not many examples have reached us because they have fallen into disuse and have been replaced. Compare with that of the Council of Villafranca de la Marisma (Los Palacios y Villafranca, Seville), that of Valdipiélago (León), that of Matapozuelos (Valladolid), that of the Cabildo of Buenos Aires in Argentina (18th century, following previous models), etc.
· Size: 157x64x78 cms
4.800 €
