A Large 15th C. French Gothic Leather And Iron Bound Travelling Chest

Large leather and iron bound travel chest, very rare in its dimensions
Late 15th century, Northern France
Dimensions: h.103 cm, l. 178 cm, p. 77cm

Our rectangular-shaped chest opens with a rounded lid. It is entirely covered in leather veneered on a wooden core, and decorated with wrought and crafted iron frames and hinges.
It is garnished on all sides with iron hinges cut at the ends of Gothic trefoils.
On the facade two lock plates with cut-out cloverleaf borders fitted with a hasp (one missing) attached to the cover.
The iron bands serving as reinforcements on all sides as well as the central bands are decorated with plant and floral friezes and geometric patterns. These strips are attached to the wood using daisy-headed nails, typical of the French Renaissance.
Given its size and loaded weight, our trunk has four carrying handles: two wrought iron side handles, but also two front handles.
The interior has a stretched fabric dating from at least the 17th century, we find on the interior sides of the cover the original raspberry-colored vellum.
This is a rare model in leather and iron of very large dimensions. Expensive materials, which were only used on small Gothic boxes (20 cm to 50 cm in length) like those in the public collections of many museums.
Large chests exceeding 1 meter in length for the sake of economy and simplicity were generally made of wood sometimes covered with iron cladding.
We found a large chest in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of New York, but still smaller than ours (inv. 47.144, dim. H: 22 1/2" W: 50 1/2" D: 21").
There are also two similar large chests (with flat or slightly domed lids) in the collections of the Barcelona Leather Museum.

The chest that we are presenting, a true object of Gothic luxury, stands out from all its models by its monumental side, as well as exceptional wrought and crafted iron ornament.
Its extreme rarity and impressive appearance make it a unique object, capable of enriching a collection of an informed enthusiast or embellishing an interior thanks to its medieval majesty.