Tallinn saddle makers guild chest

The body of this baroque guild box from the end of the 17th century is made of oak and decorated with intarsia of line ornaments and rosettes. The centres of the front and the back are decorated with a saddle and harnesses, underneath them the year 1697. The sides have two spiral columns decorated with grapevines. Underneath the central moving wooden panelling, decorated with a four-pronged star, on the lid is a lock plate with a keyhole. There is a cartridge on the left inside of the box. The inner side of the lid has been covered in marbled paper and sports a tin plated iron lock covered in verdures with latticed hinges.
The saddle makers’ guild in Tallinn likely existed as early as in the 14th century, making different types of saddles and horse harnesses and cushioning carriages and sleighs.