17th Century Antique Iron-Bound Oak Alms Box, circa 1680

A robust and deeply atmospheric iron-bound alms box of the seventeenth century, of the type long used in the churches and chapels of Northern Europe for the gathering of charitable offerings. Objects of this kind — the poor-box, the offertory box, the fattigbössa of the Scandinavian church — stood at the door or by the altar to receive the alms of the congregation, and their construction speaks directly to their purpose: to be secure, immovable, and proof against the dishonest hand.

The rectangular oak carcase is heavily strapped and studded in wrought iron, the hinged top bound with iron bands laid in a bold X-shaped, or saltire, pattern and pierced with a single coin slot through which offerings were dropped. The front is mounted with a large iron lock of commanding scale, the key to which would have been held by the priest, churchwarden, or parish officer — the box opening only in the presence of those charged with distributing its contents to the poor of the parish. The whole retains a wonderful sculptural honesty: the hand-forged straps, the domed studs, the heavy hasp, all bearing the marks of the smith's hammer and the deep, dry patina of age.

Catalogued as Swedish folk art, the box belongs to a wider Northern European tradition of ecclesiastical and vernacular ironbound chests and money-boxes that spans Scandinavia, the German lands, and the British Isles, where the same anxieties — security, charity and accountability — produced the same uncompromising forms. Its survival, with its iron intact and its function legible at a glance, makes it both a compelling object of devotional and social history and a powerfully decorative one.

A piece of genuine presence, equally at home in an ecclesiastical setting, a collection of early metalwork and treen, or as a singular sculptural object in a country house interior.

Provenance: Northern Europe. 17th-century.

Material: Timber and iron.

Condition: Sound and stable, retaining its original ironwork, lock and studded decoration. Commensurate with age and use: some rust and minor losses to the iron, and old woodworm to the oak. A wholly honest survivor.

Dimensions: Width 18½ in (47 cm) · Height 7¾ in (20 cm) · Depth 11 in (28 cm)