Hope Chest - Historical Origins

Historical Origins

  • Cassone of renaissance Italy
Large decorated and showy chests, forming part of dynastic marriages in 15th and 16th century Italy. These were prized displays of wealth, of even more value than their contents.
  • Dutch kast or German schrank chests
These are tall wardrobe-like chests with double doors. These are larger than most hope chests, intended for regular service in the home after marriage, and so were constructed as to partially dismantle for transport.
  • American settlers
The peak of the hope chest as folk art came with the waves of European immigrants to America. Many of these, from Scandinavia to the Northern Midwest and Germans in Pennsylvania (Amish, had long traditions of plainly constructed chests with extensive painted decoration.

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