Chest 006

Chest 006

A dowry chest, in the form of a cuboid mounted on four wheels, closed with a box lock. The lid opens on two hinges. Polychrome surface: in the middle of the lid and on the front wall, two square fields with analogous motifs of single flower bouquets, flanked by six wreaths, are located next to each other.

Square green fields separated by white lines delineating a wide brown border decorated with palmettes and a checkered pattern. The central motif is a yellow-white-brown bouquet that emerges from a semicircular base and is composed of four flower buds on the sides of a branched stem, a single flower in the form of an eight-pointed star and a semicircle that completes the whole. The edges of the flowers are marked with lines. Wreaths have a multi-petal form or are composed of circles.
A flower bouquet is one of the popular decorative motifs used in the Jawor carpentry centre at the end of the 19th century. Its characteristic elements are flower buds, referring to the Persian ornament called “bota”, which is widespread in Europe, symbolizing fertility.

Item: Polychrome Dowry Chest (motif: a bouquet with wreaths)
Material, technique: pine wood, carpentry
Dimensions: chest - height 90 cm, width 113 cm, depth 68 cm; motif - height 47 cm, width 49.5 cm
Time of origin: end of the 19th century
Origin: Dąbrowa (Lubaczów commune)
Owner: Museum of the Eastern Borderland in Lubaczów