French iron chest

Description

A 16th century French iron chest; rectangular with domed lid; brown with orange traces of paint; lid, walls and base are of single iron plates riveted together at edges; front wall and side walls have heavily grooved border strip reinforcing the edges and corners riveted on; back wall has three hinge straps running to base; no borders so at ends construction is visible with ebds of side walls turned around back plate and rivetted down; base is plain with construction method visible; wall bottoms turned under base plate and rivetted down; lid domed with ends made of single crescents of iron sheet welded into place; the two outer hinges with straps extended almost comletely over the lid; middle hinge lsightly off-centre, strap extended over lid to form hinge for lock hasp; hasp stepped to narrow it and curled outwards; octagonal section crancked handle in rings rivetted through top of lid plate; lock in top centre of front wall woth off-centre opening for hasp; keyhole central, with separate protective hasp suspended from hinge where border is cut away; interior plain with large rivet heads visible; reinforcing strip behind hinges; sides have top extensions to fit inside lid; one rivet in lid missing; much of original orange paint on interior and traces on exterior in grooves and around rivets.