Chest 008

Chest 008

A dowry chest for clothes, in the form of a cuboid on four wheels. The lid opens on the belt hinges. Polychrome surface: in the middle of the lid and on the front wall, a single rectangular field with an ornamental border. In the centre of the field, there is a motif of a wreath, flanked at the corners of the field by quarter-circular sections of a twig and smaller flowers. The central rectangle is framed on the sides by two vertical, analogous twigs.

The centrally located wreath dominates the composition of the green square. It is made of a yellow-red-white eight-pointed star inscribed in a circle, with rays underlined with tiny lines. The whole is enclosed with segmental arches. In the corners of the rectangle, quarter-circular fields are marked out with double twigs and filled with a checkered pattern. There are small flowers arranged on the main axes. The motif of a wreath, which alludes to wedding symbols (fertility, happiness), can often be found in the decoration of Jawor dowry chests, popular in the vicinity of Lubaczów in the 1920s and 1930s.

Item: Polychrome Dowry Chest (motif: a wreath)
Material, technique: pine wood, carpentry
Dimensions: chest - height 92 cm, width 101 cm, depth 58 cm; motif - height 43 cm, width 38 cm
Time of origin: 1st third of the 20th century
Origin: Niemstów (Cieszanów Commune)
Owner: Museum of the Eastern Borderland in Lubaczów