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Plan chest, English, unknown maker, early nineteenth century
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Plan chest, XF50, English, unknown maker, early nineteenth century, oak construction with oak graining to the front, brass handles. ©Sir John Soane's Museum, London. Photograph: Hugh Kelly.
Plan chest, English, unknown maker, early nineteenth century
Oak construction with oak graining to the front, brass handles and ivory discs
Height: 94cm
Width: 76cm
Depth: 106.7cm
Width: 76cm
Depth: 106.7cm
Museum number: XF350
Curatorial note
With six deep drawers, each with original inset numbered ivory discs and two brass bail handles; the chest is decorated with applied carved wooden Tudor roses.
This plan chest is built into a deep recess on the west side of the Monk’s Parlour; indeed, its functional nature and large size are cunningly concealed by this means. It may well have been brought from elsewhere, perhaps from Soane’s lower office, now the Colonnade, which was colonised for Museum purposes in 1824-25, just at the time that the Monk’s Parlour was built. The applied Tudor roses may have been added when the plan chest was installed in the Monk’s Parlour to suit this mock-medieval setting; they are identical to those which stud the ceiling of the Colonnade and so if the chest was formerly in that area they may have been part of its decoration from its inception. The oak graining which is rather curiously applied to the front of this oak plan chest may be post-Soane as the yellowed varnish or paint goes across the numbered ivory discs.
This plan chest is built into a deep recess on the west side of the Monk’s Parlour; indeed, its functional nature and large size are cunningly concealed by this means. It may well have been brought from elsewhere, perhaps from Soane’s lower office, now the Colonnade, which was colonised for Museum purposes in 1824-25, just at the time that the Monk’s Parlour was built. The applied Tudor roses may have been added when the plan chest was installed in the Monk’s Parlour to suit this mock-medieval setting; they are identical to those which stud the ceiling of the Colonnade and so if the chest was formerly in that area they may have been part of its decoration from its inception. The oak graining which is rather curiously applied to the front of this oak plan chest may be post-Soane as the yellowed varnish or paint goes across the numbered ivory discs.
Literature
J. Soane Description of the Residence of John Soane, Architect, London, 1835, p. 26
If you have any further information about this object, please contact us: worksofart@soane.org.uk