Bridal chest portraying St. Anthony Abbot and St. Michael the Archangel. Catalan workshop. Gothic. 15th century. 70 x 126 x 53,5 cm. Magnificent example of Catalan bridal chests, divided into sections as befits their typology. Inside, the left section is a single, capacious space without compartmentalization, accessible from the top by lifting a small inner lid which, in this case, is posterior (the original is not preserved). At the base there is an openwork Gothic rose window, which we believe was sculpted to keep the clothes inside ventilated. The right section, on the other hand, has a door that hides four drawers, three of which are removable and the fourth of which is accessible from the top. The drawers section and the inside of the door are profusely carved and gilded, with decoration of pointed arches and geometric vegetation scrolls, characteristic signs of Gothic architecture. It can be opened with a hinged top lid that retains its original hinges. The interior of the lid displays a magnificent panel with a Flemish style landscape, with ravines and mountains, a castle or fortress and river, with an wooded background. St. Anthony Abbot, with his little pig, is on the left and, opposite "in sacra conversatione", is St. Michael the Archangel holding the sword of the chief and most powerful of the angels, "potens in potentia". Perhaps, the hermit saint is being assisted by the archangel in overcoming all the temptations he went through. The side and front panels of the exterior are polychromed with two central shields which have the sun and a tree in front on a black background, framed in fine gold. Dividing the two front panels is a golden carved element of Gothic architectural motifs, topped by a wrought iron keyhole. Bridal chests, as reported on the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya website, "in addition to their function of storing goods, were used as a dowry for the woman in the marriage bond. The woman gave an ark or two containing her clothes and a monetary contribution, which was recovered in case of widowhood without her being the heir. The complexity of the chests, valued according to the materials used, the number of drawers and their artistic quality, reflected the status of the wife". The bridal chest we have here has exceptional similarities with the bridal chest kept in the Barcelona Museu del Disseny HUB, by the Master of Viella, (Bartomeu Garcia), dated between 1475 and 1565, which depicts St. Philip and St. Barthomew in the painting of the interior (inv. MADB 40103). There are similarities in its internal structure, as well as in the polychromy of the front and side panels and in the keyhole. In the permanent exhibition at the MNAC in Barcelona, there is also a splendid example of a walnut, or perhaps poplar, wedding box, with the "Annunciation" painted on the inside of its lid, which has remarkable similarities with this one. That box and the one we have here in the catalogue, in turn, resemble the piece of furniture that, according to Vilarrubías, "appears photographed in 1923 in the file of a chest belonging to the Institut Amatller de Arte Hispánico, Barcelona. The photo shows a piece of furniture that was kept in the Castle of Santa Florentina in Canet de Mar, Spain, at the time (we do not know if it is still there today)'. We extracted the following information from the file on the MNAC ark, according to which the best examples, like all the examples we have mentioned, including, of course, this one, 'were made with polychromed and gilded walnut wood from the middle of the 15th century and up to the first half of the 16th century'. Daniel Vilarrubías, in a very interesting article for the MNAC, which we have already quoted, states that "the ark - in Catalonia the term caixa (box) was always used - was perhaps the most excellent type of container furniture that existed in Catalonia in the Modern Age, since the typology appeared in the mid-15th century in coexistence with the chests with iron fittings or heavier appearance and disappeared in the mid-18th century, when the wardrobe became generalized and dressing table furniture like the chest of drawers, more suitable for storing clothes, appeared on the scene". Reference Bibliography: - Vilarrúbias, Daniel (15th October 2020). Un arca nupcial de lujo del siglo XVI en el Museu Nacional'. https://blog.museunacional.cat/es/una-arca-nuvial-de-lujo-del-siglo-xvi-en-el-museu-nacional/?_ga=2.74104978.1063580328.1731516847-1761132863.1698168110&_gac=1.207931046.1731516847.EAIaIQobChMIuOnY8uLZiQMVJpRoCR1HCxOsEAAYASAAEgK72PD_BwE