Strongbox
Category
Furniture
Date
circa 1600
Materials
Iron, steel and paint
Measurements
42 x 93.5 x 47 cm
Place of origin
Germany
Order this imageCollection
Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire
NT 1128054
Summary
An iron and steel strongbox, commonly called an 'Armada Chest', German, late 16th/early 17th century. Fitted to the outside with iron straps decorated with hatched lines, and with a false escutcheon to the front. The areas between the straps with traces of yellow paint and gilding; one end painted with lion masks. The lid with three hinges and a concealed keyhole, and lifting to reveal a fine engraved steel lock mechanism shooting seven bolts. The interior of the chest with later pink paint and containing several divisions. It has been suggested that this may be the 'great Iron chest paynted' referred to in Lady Shrewsbury's bedroom in the Hardwick Hall inventory of 1601.
Provenance
By descent until, following the death of Edward William Spencer Cavendish, 10th Duke of Devonshire (1895 - 1950), Hardwick Hall and its contents were accepted by HM Treasury in part payment of death duties and transferred to the National Trust, in 1959.
References
Rowell, Christopher, 'Furniture at Hardwick Hall - II', in David Adshead and David Taylor, Hardwick Hall: A Great Old Castle of Romance (2016), 166