Featured Fantasy piece or Brazilian influence in France?

I was looking for something interesting to do for my retired husband, who is quite good at woodworking and has repaired a couple of our ( not hugely valuable) antique desks, when I found this chest for sale in Finland a year ago.



It was sold as a European, Baroque -style chest from the 19th century. The seller had bought it in Sweden and knew nothing more about it. The various elements struck me somewhat incongruous: the barley twist legs and caryatids spelled European but the jungle hunt scene gave me South american vibes—before I realized the bird has a lizard’s tail. So it’s maybe a basilisk or cocatrice? And the caryatids, right or wrong, evoke conquistadors to me. I’ve seen similar somewhere but can’t find any by googling. The hunter looks like he might have some sort of a bandana/headdress.

The measurements are 27 (w) 28 (h) and 16 (d) and would seem to be in inches rather than centimeters. French? Spanish? Portuguese? Or?



(I’d include a cute cat as a bribe for opinions if I still had one…

Thanks in advance!

 

Puss has passed away , but lives on...here ...&in my heart !

Nice chest !!!!

 

How nice ! I wonder if this was once a desk ? Obviously something is missing inside,and why would a chest have a drop front? Im thinking 19th century fantasy piece with all those different motifs. But wait for more informed opinions.

 

I'd bet on a radio cabinet. The lids on those lifted up, especially if they had a turntable on top. It definitely had a shelf. I see holes in the back for the wires.

 

GOOD! Highly probable, evely!

 

I think that's nice.....and a nice project for the husband!!!!
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Morning! Thanks for all the replies!

Yes, it has a hole in the back for a wire and likely had a shelf, but they might have been later modifications since the remnants of the shelf supports seemed like a DIY project by someone without proper tools. An old radio would’ve needed all the space of the chest part without the shelf, and it might not have fit in even so. I don’t have the measurements of the actual chest, and it’s in the deep frozen north as we speak.

The front drops down when the lid is lifted—there are no supports—and it could once be locked (the key didn’t come with it). I guessed it might’ve been used as a liquor cabinet, with an added shelf and light. The top has so deep carvings it’s hard to get most anything to stay straight on it.

I wrote to a company specializing in Gothic and Renaissance French furniture, and the owner was kind enough to confirm it looked like a marriage piece to him too. He’d never seen anything like the front panel design before.

“The story portrayed on the front of the chest is an interesting one and may indeed reflect the 19th century interest in designs harking back to the Renaissance in France and the fascination for all things “Indian.”

I was wondering if the chest was originally from Southern Europe, sailed to e.g. South America with emigrants, lost a panel and had one added locally. I’d really like to get some information about it.

We cleaned it, removed the shelf remnants and used some restoration oil on it and changed the non-functioning lock. Didn’t let husband do anything more to it.

 

Have refrained from commenting since I could not get a very good look on my phone. Believe this to be Spanish or Spanish colonial in origin. May be 19th century but would not discount this being 20th century, as the carving is a bit sub-par. While the radio cabinet theory is a sound one based on form, I think a radio cabinet would have more ventilation than seen in this cabinet. As to use as a desk, the uneven surface of the drop-front does not lend itself to this use. This leaves us to conjecture how this was originally fitted out. It is certainly in the tradition of a bargueño, which would have been fitted with small drawers. The lift top is an anomaly that defies explanation, though a liquor cabinet could put this to use.

This is the closest example to overall form I could find. It is an 18th century Jacobean revival livery cabinet. Given the early date, this could have been made most anywhere in Europe or England.



Jacobean Revival Carved Oak Livery Cupboard - Shapiro Auctioneers

 

Thanks, Brad!

I found the same image today. Didn’t when I searched for similar chests in the summer of 2022. Google image search is definitely making a difference!

I really think that the chest part was too small for an old-fashioned radio— if my memory serves at all, those used to be quite a bit bigger and especially taller than the space inside this chest.

Some similar cabinets/chests on stands were apparently used as as Bible stands, though the measurement might have been different.

I also found bargueños with small fitted drawers today.

The gentleman specializing in antique French furniture, whom I contacted after buying the chest, wondered if the top was a marriage:

“Right off the bat, I was wondering if the top might be older since it exceeds the dimensions of the lower part and is especially lovely in the carving. The side panels have some of the same flavor but that may have been an attempt to make the connection to the iconography of the top more compelling.

The “terms” on either side of the front place the chest firmly in the Renaissance and neo-Renaissance decorative vocabulary of France.

I would speculate that the stand, in the style of Louis XIII with the twisted columns, may not be part of the original design.”

He only had the same three photos to work from as he is based in Texas and the desk was in Finland.

Personally, I’m more curious about the design than the original purpose of the chest. I originally emailed the Texas gentleman because his website had a mention of some perplexing South American motifs that they’d seen in cabinets made in the Loire Valley in the 16th C. Apparently the French were captivated by 50 Indians brought to France in 1550 and housed in a reconstructed Indian village in Normandy for the entertainment of royalty. And the cabinetmakers followed suit.

I’m not thinking my chest is from that time — simply wondering if carvings from those times might have been the inspiration for the jungle scene and the mythical (?) beast in the front panel.

Thanks again!