Noting the inlaid decoration centring on a fanciful steepled building. Late Victorian collectors compared this group of chests with Henry VIII's remarkable Palace of Nonesuch at Cheam, Surrey. The comparison has no basis in fact, since the elaborate buildings first appear in Cologne furniture, following Italian fashions for intarsia work. An important exploratory article by Benno Forman collates records of the immigrant craftsmen of Southwark and their products ('Continental Furniture Craftsmen in London: 1511-1625', Furniture History 1971, pp. 94-120). The article attributes the origins of the style to Cologne and neighbouring cities and charts its appearance in London and Norwich at the hands of German inlayers and chestmakers in the late 16th Century