Wedding Chest Covers With Depiction of Ships

Abstract

In our society, any jewelry, clothing, and any other belongings taken by brides from their family home to their marriage home are called as dowry in general.

The special chest to carry this dowry in is called the wedding chest. In our culture, marriage is a sacred act. Therefore, the wedding ceremony is almost a ritual which is practiced in varying customs and traditions. In our culture, birth, marriage, and death are the three important phases in a human’s life. Although death and birth occur without our free will, marriage is an important event that takes place with our initiative. Thus, all young ladies who are in the process of preparing to get married pay attention to that their wedding chest is flamboyant and stuffed in as far as possible. This is a social value within context of our customs and traditions.

For this reason, it is possible to see the traces of our culture on the wedding chests made of wood. Besides many examples made with various techniques such as carving and engraving, there are also other kind of wedding chests ornamented by being painted.

Ships were depicted on the inner surface of the covers of wedding chests, which were ornamented by being painted. These ships depicted by the help of madder reflect the nautical culture in our society.