Counter chest
John Nethercott & Co.
Category
Furniture
Date
Unknown
Materials
oak, paint and iron
Measurements
930 x 1905 x 760 mm
Place of origin
Presteigne
Order this imageCollection
Tudor Merchants House, Pembrokeshire
NT 445681
Summary
Counter chest. An oak counter chest with linenfold carving to the front panels, painted in size paints in green, red and yellow. The sides and front have wrought iron fixings terminating in a fluer-de-lys shape. Intended to be used as the ticket counter for the building. The back of the piece has therefore been adapted to accommodate a modern till and other facilities with four sliding drawers with modern locks.
Full description
Counter chest. An oak counter chest with linenfold carving to the front panels, painted in size paints in green, red and yellow. Intended to be used as the ticket counter for the building. The back of the piece has therefore been adapted to accommodate a modern till and other facilities with four sliding drawers with modern locks. This oak chest is of the kind known in c1500 as a 'counter'. It is based mainly on one depicted in one of the earliest surviving manuscripts pictures of a shop interior [in a manuscript of c1440 of John Lydgate's 'Pilgrimage of the Life of Man' British Library Cotton Ms Tiberius A VII f.93] where it is shown being used as a 'counter' in the modern sense, with two women shopkeepers standing behind it: there are also references to two surviving counter chests of c1500, especially for the linenfold panel decoration.
Provenance
This piece was made by John Nethercott and Co, Discoed, Powys in 2010 and painted by Gaynor Birch. The furniture and fittings were commissioned especially for the Tudor Merchant’s House by Dr Charles Kightly.
Makers and roles
John Nethercott & Co., furniture maker Gaynor Birch, painter