A Swedish allmoge chest is a pine box with a domed lid, iron straps and turned feet, painted all over in distemper by a farm painter who came through the village and moved on. The front carries a rectangular reserve: a symmetrical flower spray growing from one stem, the owner's initials above, the year below.

Everything around that reserve is faked — stiles and rails grained or marbled with a rag and a feather, because paint was cheaper than hardwood. The system keeps that logic: framed panels, a bordered reserve for anything that matters, and lettering that states who and when.