Chestney/Origin

{| border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="article-table" style="width: 660px;"

Origin
A chest is one of the oldest forms of furniture. It is typically a rectangular structure with four walls and a liftable lid, for storage. The interior space may be subdivided. The early uses of an antique chest or coffer included storage of fine cloth, weapons, foods and valuable items. A cassone is a kind of carved or painted chest associated with late Medieval and Renaissance Italy. Cassones, also called marriage chests, were often used to carry the dowry goods in a marriage ceremony. A simple chest, called a wakis (wagon-kist) was commonly used in the Cape Colony as a seat on a wagon. To make it more usable, it often had a wooden support along the centre of the top so that the seated driver would not slide off so easily. In addition to this use, they were also used for storage at home; keeping clothes, food and other commodities safe. They were frequently made with one or more sides sloping downwards, although the top was always horizontal. Many are made of very good woods, like yellowwood and survived well. Some manufacturers also painted the front of the kist with relatively simply designs reminiscent of, and presumably originating from Europe bauernmalerei.