A rare English oak panelled chest second half 16th century

the hinged four panel cover above an incised frieze on three sides with the script 'FEARE GOD AND THE QVE' and the initials 'RB', the front with four Romayne carved panels, the sides with lozenge motifs

This fine chest would appear to be part of group. The most well known example is in the collection of The Victoria and Albert Museum, London. The example at the V&A is illustrated by Herbert Cescinsky and Ernest Gribble, Early English Furniture and Woodwork, London, 1922, p. 41, fig. 46 and Ralph Edwards, The Dictionary of English Furniture, London, 2000 rev. ed., p. 9, fig. 18. Cescinsky (op. cit.) writes that the V&A chest is from Somerset and mid-16th century. Edwards (op. cit.) concludes that the chest illustrates a fusion using both Gothic and Renaissance motifs and dates from circa 1635.

The V&A chest has the legend 'FERE GOD . LOVE GOD, the offered lot varies with the inscription 'FERE GOD AND THE QVE [Queen]'. Perhaps a reference to the great purges by Mary I (1553-1558) of her protestant subjects or it could refer to the majesty and successes of the reign of her step sister Elizabeth I. This would date firmly the chest to the second half of the 16th century.

The two central profile portraits could well be depictions of a 'Greenman' and 'Greenwomen'. These depictions are related to a very ancient mythology often linked to early pagan rights. A loose interpretation is often the subjugation of man by nature or vice versa. A Christian interpretation would be the notion of rebirth and regeneration - symbols for the resurrection of Christ.