chest.pdf

Late medieval chest

This chest is from XX church and dated to 15:th century but is of a form commonly used in

the 14:th century. The chest has probably seen use as a vestment coffer, serving as storage for

the priestly wardrobe.

The chest is made out of oak and relies on square plugs in round holes to keep the parts in

place.

The body of the chest

The front of the chest is based on the ‘legboards’. These are probably slotted and the three

face boards slid down the slots. The upper and lower plank is then plugged in place.

( red arrows denote

these plugs in the

picture, the

green/yellow shows

the sidebeams that are

described below)

The front and back are joined together by sidebeams that are slotted into the legboards and

plugged into these with a plug driven in diagonally from the side of the board.

Seen here is the inside of the sidebeam as it is

slotted into the legboard. The plug on the inside

has been left ‘unpruned’.

Between the horizontal beams vertical ones are

inserted to stabilise and distance them. (see

picture above)

On the inside of the beams ordinary planks form

a wall. How these are fastened I do not know

The Bottom

The lower face and backplank has a ‘shelf’ cut into them as well as the legboards. The

bottom planks rest against the shelf and a beam running over the middle. The beam is

haphazardly plugged into the front and back with uncut plugs.

( The shelf and underlying beam )

Other chests from the same age have two beams under the bottom but this particular one sport

just the single one.

The lid

The lid is made of planks attached to an underlying beam on the shortsides. This is so short it

passes down between the frontboard and backboards.

( The lid, marked red. Seen here how

the beam fits into the chest body)

The hinges are made of iron and is

attached to the inside of the lid and

the backside of the chest. On other

chests of the same cunstruction the

hinges are mostly on the inside in

both fastenings.

Final comments

This document does not have any measurements as it is only to show the way the chest was

built. A guess of its size would be that it is about 1,60 m long, about 0,5deep and 0,90 high.

The boards may have been glued as well as plugged, Although it does not seem likely. Since

we could not open the chest some details of construction is still a mystery.

The boards to be slotted into others are generally cut in an easy way.

As shown on this simple rendering ã

It is cut by sawing it, rather than by using an axe or another edged tool

Even if this is a chest that was used in a church, pictures from the time tells

us it was even in secular use.

Johan Käll

Albrechts Bössor

Appendix

this picture taken by Thomas Hagaeus of a chest in Transylvania, prob. 14:th century, shows

how the planks are fitted into the beams

Appendix 2

Other chests of similar construction from the state Historical museum,

Sweden

Johan Kll

Albrechts bssor

www.albrechts.se

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