Large One Piece Campaign Chest

A large Chinese Export or China Trade, one piece Campaign Chest made of Oriental hardwood with a similar colour to mahogany.

This chest was never made to split in half, or have removable feet, to make it easier for travel. A number of campaign chests were made in the Chinese ports for the Westerners passing through or for ship's captains to take home to sell. Some were made to separate into sections but its not unusual to see examples that were intended to be one piece. Often they had brass carrying handles to the sides to make it easier to move them. Although this chest has very stylish, flush drawers handles it also has an over hanging moulded edge to the top and the base.

The brass drawer handles have an unusual and elegant bowed shape and the drawers have inlaid brass stringing to further enhance them. There is also brass stringing inset to the rounded front corners of the chest and the escutcheons are brass discs. The boards between the drawers are cut with a reeded moulding, which is often seen on Export chests. The turned feet are fixed. The over hanging moulded top of the chest is cleated to the sides to give a smarter finish. The back of the chest is panelled.

This is an interesting variant of campaign chest. Late 19th century.