tomb-chest

tomb-chest. Rectangular stone funerary monument above a tomb, often found in churches, with recumbent effigies on top or suggested by figures outlined (incised) on the top slab or cut into inserts of metal (brasses). The sides of the chest were often enriched with quatrefoils, etc., or with niches containing weepers (upright or kneeling figures). Canopies and railings often completed the ensemble. Tomb-chests were sometimes associated with chantry- or mortuary-chapels. Simplified tomb-chests without weapons, effigies, or canopies were often employed as funerary monuments in churchyards and cemeteries in C18, C19, and C20.

Bibliography

Crossley (1921);
J. Curl (2002c)