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Coffers
A chest with lift up lid instead of drawers. These can be a nuisance to open if someone has left all their stuff on the top! Usually made of indigenous timber such as oak, elm or ash, the coffer was a very popular item across the centuries and still very useful today. It is possible to buy a very early one of these for surprisingly little money. It is quite wonderful to be able to have in the home something that has served countless owners for perhaps five hundred years. We thoroughly recommend that all who can should experience the warmth, colour and depth of patination that is offered by an early piece of vernacular furniture. Tip - a coffer chest with drawers and a lift up lid is called a mule chest.
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17th century antique oak coffer, with great colour and panelling.
English circa 1680, £1,250
24" deep
24.5" high
47" wide
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Unique and extremely important walnut coffer dating from 1550-1560, probably commissioned by King Henri II of France for his mistress Diane de Poitiers, it bears the monogram "H" and the crescent for Diane de Poitiers. The pictures below show the crescent as worn by Diane de Poitiers and also in her snake and crescent monogram. The coffer itself is decorated in a very archetectural manner, with stylised rose decoration and generous moulding around the base typical of the second French renaissance. The presence of the decorative putti are interesting as they show the Italian influence on French decorative arts of the time. The colour and patination of this coffer are wonderful and the condition excellent, it even has the original key. Illustrated in "Le Mobilier Francais Du Muyen Age A La Renaissance" by Jacqueline Boccador published 1988 by Editions d'Art Monelle Hayot. Exhibited at the Exposition Internationale D'Amsterdam 1972.
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