The exceptionally rare use of short cabriole legs on this type of chest, known since the 19th century as a 'bachelor's chest', has only a few parallels but of the highest quality. A tallboy with cabriole feet was in the Infantado suite, supplied to the Duke of Infantado's castle at Lazcano, near San Sebastian in Northern Spain, by the Clerkenwell cabinet-maker Giles Grendey, probably in 1735-40. That the design was not unique to Grendey is proved by the presence of this pattern of leg on a bachelor's chest by Coxed and Woster of St. Paul's Church Yard. The latter was sold at Sotheby's London, 19 November 1993, lot 47 (£73,000).
The columnar trussed legs with flat round feet reflect the 'India' fashion introduced around 1720 and also feature in longer form on the trade sheet issued in the 1730s by Thomas Potter (C. Gilbert and T. Murdoch, John Channon and brass-inlaid furniture, London, 1993, fig. 11).
CHARLES GAPE
The name stamps and four-figure number, possibly the date 1857, seem likely to refer to the Rev'd Charles Gape (b.1836), from 1866 Vicar of Rushall, near Diss in Norfolk. The evidence of the English parish records (www.familysearch.com) and the 1881 census makes him by far the most likely candidate for the ownership of this chest at that time. He appears to have been interested in astronomy because he answered questions in 1875 about the origin of light flashes witnessed over Norfolk.