Name/Title
Curiosity ChestContext
Sitting on a lamp table by the northeast window of the Neill-Cochran House Museum's Back Parlor is a miniature curiosity chest made c. 1800. The chest features a rosewood fall-front with three false drawers. When opened, the false front reveals a grid of small interior rosewood drawers with fronts of tortoise shell and ivory inlay.
Curiosity chests are miniature versions of "Cabinets of Curiosities," rooms dedicated to the display of natural and manmade artifacts that became popular in Renaissance Europe. Curiosity chests primarily served as receptacles for private collections of artifacts in aristocratic homes. Due to growing appreciation for the arts during the Renaissance, cabinets of curiosity and curiosity chests paved the way for the opening of the first museums. They are therefore regarded as the origin behind the concept of history and art museums and also contributed to the studies of archaeology and anthropology.
This chest was given to the Neill-Cochran House Museum by Mrs. Robert W. McClendon. You can see it, and all of our curious artifacts, Wed-Sun 11-4pm.
Source: Evan Allbritton, NCHM internAcquisition
Accession
1974.01Source or Donor
Mr. Robert W. McClendonAcquisition Method
GiftCredit Line
In Mem of donor's wife, Mary Olive Titterington of Texarkana