Jan & John Maggs

Antiques and Art

A 17th-century spice chest with central compartment

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Found in New Hampshire, we consider this a rare and quite special piece. Its seventeen drawers are arranged around a central compartment, secured by a joined door with decorated center panel. The drawers graduate in size, getting smaller as they rise and frame the door. Each drawer is edged with a decorative, applied moulding and has a carved wooden pull at its center. All of the drawers are original, although a few of the decorative pieces have been replaced.

The door is held in place by two decorated steel hinges that match the shaped escutcheon. The panel in the door has a carved rosette at its center. The rosette radiates what might be described as “tongues of fire”, painted onto the surface, as is the date 1673.

Repairs to the face strongly suggest that the chest once had a hinged door. The iron handles on either side were probably used to carry it from place to place, perhaps in the entourage of a cleric or a noble.

A label on the back of the box suggests that it was sold by a dealer named J. A. Butti, who apparently had a shop in Edinburgh, probably in the late eighteenth or early 19th centuries. While we do not believe it to be English, there is nothing to indicate anything of its origins or history. We suspect that it might be from a Mediterranean country, perhaps Italy.

Continental, ca. 1673

Width: 18 ¼”; Height: 20”; Depth: 9 ¾”

Price: $2,250

Inventory #26973

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