Bride's chest of arches. Catalonia, 18th century and later

Bride's chest of arches. Catalonia, 18th century and later.
Carved walnut wood.
Front door with interior drawer. Hinged top lid.
Carved.
Presents inactive xylophagous marks and some later restoration. It has some flaws.
Measurements: 68 x 150 x 59 cm.

Baroque bridal chest, made in Catalonia, decorated with profuse carved, geometric and architectural motifs. It stands on four claw feet and has a hinged top lid, typical of this typology. The front is organized, through the ornamental scheme, in three recesses that house pairs of semicircular arches raised on pilasters, with narrower recesses between them, decorated with squares that house floral motifs. The sides of the cabinet repeat the same pattern. The upper frieze is decorated with carved pilasters with simple vegetal motifs alternating with plain grooves.

This type of chest originated in the 16th century, in the so-called "arcas embasadas de moldura, que dicen barcelonesas", typical of Catalonia, Aragon, the Balearic Islands and Valencia. It is a type of chest very different from the contemporary French one, although similar to the Italian one. Although they have their origin in the Crown of Aragon (specifically in Barcelona, according to their name), today we know that they were made all over Spain, since the guild ordinances of the time of Charles I dictate the way to make them. They are, in any case, betrothal chests, also called "caixas de novia", which were an indispensable part of the wedding trousseau. Regarding their typology, they all have a truncated pyramidal molded base (hence the term "embasadas"), and their construction is deceptive, appearing on the outside to be a stretcher frame and panel structure that is not, however, since they are built with assembled one-piece boards, a typical characteristic of northern Spain at this time. There were different variants depending on the size and the number of squares placed on the front: two in the smallest ones, three in the medium ones and four or more in the larger ones. In fact, the ark could be as long as the wall on which it was placed.