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COLONIAL FURNITURE OF NEW 
ENGLAND 
CHAPTER I. 
CHESTS. 
IN use from classical times, we find the chest during 
the Middle Ages the principal piece of household fur- 
niture, serving not only as a receptacle for clothing, 
money, plate, and Other valuables, but also at times 
for a seat, or a table, and occasionally as a place upon 
which to make up a bed. It was also used in churches 
to inclose the sacred vessels, vestments, records, etc. 
Down to about the twelfth century the woodwork of 
chests in England and France appears to have been 
either plain or covered with leather or painted cloths. 
After this time they began to be carved more or less 
richly, and in the thirteenth century to be paneled. 
Specimens of the carved and paneled chests which 
were in use in Europe from the latter part of the thir. 
teenth down to the seventeenth century have been 
illustrated in many standard works, and may be seen 
in numerous public and private collections in Europe.