Spanish bargueño. City of Vargas, 17th century.
Walnut wood.
The legs are later, from the 18th or 19th century.
Measurements: 148 x 90 x 55 cm.
Cantabrian walnut chest, produced in the city of Vargas. Of Baroque period and style, it was a stellar period for this type of furniture in Spain. It has a prismatic structure with a frame and panels. The front lid, decorated with handles and fittings on rhomboidal and openwork metal panels, is hinged and conceals a display organised in three registers. The drawers are arranged in drawers of different sizes alternating with arcades composed of turned columns and rounded arches with recessed spandrels. The arches conceal a secret drawer, a common element in Spanish Baroque bargueños. The keyhole shield has an espagnolette. It has iron side handles. The bargueño stands on a base from a later period, possibly from the 18th century, but its design follows Baroque models that harmonise the whole. It is a structure with helicoidal shafts and an architecturally inspired crosspiece.