Chest 010

The exhibit is in the form of a rectangular cuboid, crowned by a flat lid with a slightly profiled lip and the bottom edge is highlighted by a smallish, rectangular lip protruding to the outside. The chest box base is divided into two parts with truncated inner edges. Four wooden wheels are attached to the base using wooden axles. Inside the chest, there is an additional compartment on the left-hand side near the top. The chest features a blacksmith made metal lock with fittings.

The face is painted, surrounded by a wide border and split down the middle by two wide strips into two more-or-less square areas. The border is painted in a red-brown colour. Black rectangles (background) are framed in each squarish area by a wide red-brown border and a narrower white border on the inside. The backgrounds feature a stylized floral bouquet painted using white paint, with spirals aligned antithetically reminiscent of a branch with three offshoots inside. Smallish, irregular stylized leaves cross the vertical aliment of the bouquet. This motif is repeated on the sides (one on each) and on the lid (two). The remaining parts of the chest are unpainted, light, in a natural aged wood colour.
This pattern is a typical motif painted on chests from the Sokołów carpentry centre. It is a compilation of an archaic bouquet pattern made out of offshoots and spirals. It fulfils an aesthetic function and at the same time symbolises the wealth of the bride’s dowry.

Exhibit: dowry chest from Sokołów
Materials, technique: pine wood, tenon joints, pattern painted in distempers applied to raw wood and a blacksmith made lock.
Dimensions: height 70 cm, width 103 cm, depth 51 cm
Made in: turn of the 19th century
Origin: Zielonka, Raniżów district
Owner: Folk Culture Museum in Kolbuszowa