LOT # 80011.
Antique Wedding Chest, Late 19th Century. Well kept copy, without any interference and the original hand-painted. Size:
P.S. Before the cupboard was invented, things were stored in chests. In simple Ukrainian huts, chests were used right up to the middle of the last century. And so it happened that the hide became an integral part of wedding traditions.
We all know that since the birth of the girl, her parents collected a dowry for her - embroidered shirts, rushnyks, fabrics, jewelry. The tradition has deep roots and even my grandmother put together some handkerchiefs, soaps, brooches and other nice things for me, although I had all this requisitioned for 10 years already. A large dowry was a symbol of wealth and hard work, because before everything was done manually.
The girl's mom kept all these things in her trunk, and when the child turned 15 years old, the whole family went to the fair to buy a chest for her. When choosing a chest, the most important thing is that it was all beautifully decorated with bright colors - both on the top and on the sides, especially on the front - and painted with floral motifs.
In the songs the chest appeared exactly as "malovana screen". For a girl, he was not just a repository of her dowry, but the embodiment of a dream of an upcoming wedding and marriage. During the wedding, the bride's chest was transported to the groom's house, and the whole village was watching this action, so the chest had to be the most beautiful. In addition, he then became one of the main decorations of the interior of the house.
