Cellaret

Date1750-1770

MediumBlack walnut, yellow pine, and white pine

DimensionsOH: 38 3/4"; OW: 20 1/2"; OD: 16 1/2"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1959-156

DescriptionAppearance:
Case & bottles: Flat top with overhanging cove molding on 3 sides. Top attached with wrought iron strap hinges with scrolled ends. Deep rectangular container dovetailed at all 4 corners with brass escutcheon at upper center. Interior divided into 12 equal size interlocking compartments with scalloped upper edges. Lower section has open top with medial brace and broad molding around 3 sides. Straight skirt, single drawer in front with brass escutcheon plate with bail handle; interior of drawer divided in same manner as compartment above. Four crudely shaped cabriole legs with high rounded knee in front with straight cut sides and chamfered at back terminating in undercut, truncated slipper feet.

Construction:
All surfaces of the bottle case and stand are walnut except as otherwise noted.
On the stand, the back and side rails are tenoned and double pegged to the upper section of the legs. The front rail and drawer blade are tenoned to the front legs. A yellow pine medial rail is dovetailed (with one early and two modern nails) to the upper surface of the sides. Drawer supports (yellow pine) are butt joined to the front rail, back and sides and are notched to fit around the upper legs to which they are nailed with wrought nails. Drawer guides (yellow pine) are nailed from above to the drawer supports. Modern white pine vertical rectangular blocks are nailed to the inside face of the upper back legs as drawer stops. Rectangular molding (poplar) with an upper molded edge is joined at the corners with mitered dovetails. The molding is face nailed with wrought nails to the upper edge of the front rail and sides and overlaps them to provide a secure pocket for the bottle case. The cabriole legs terminate in slipper feet. The inside corner of the flat interior surfaces of the legs is chamfered. The evidence indicates that there have been no knee blocks.

The front of the drawer is rabbeted on all four sides to overlap the case. The interior boards (yellow pine) of the drawer’s double-board side rail are half-blind dovetailed to the front and through-dovetailed to the back. The exterior boards of the sides (also yellow pine) are nailed with wrought nails to the interior sides, into rabbets in the front and, on the proper left, to the back which they overlap. The drawer’s two board white pine bottom is glued into the front rabbet and nailed with wrought nails to the underside of the side of the interior and exterior sides. Shaped white pine drawer dividers, probably a later addition, are set in dados in the front, back, inner sides and each other.

On the bottle case, the sides are joined to the front and back with exposed dovetails. The two board white pine bottom is nailed from below to the edges of the front, back and sides. Three holes in the bottom line up with holes in the medial rail of the stand indicating that the case was apparently previously screwed to the stand. A split in the single board top has been repaired with added material. The top is joined to the back with shaped strap hinges that are nailed with wrought nails to the top and inset and nailed into the upper edge and inside surface of the back. The shaped white pine bottle dividers are set in dados in the front, sides and back of the case and each other. (Oxidation of the bottom suggest that the bottle dividers were a later addition.) Shaped molding is face nailed with wrought nails into rabbets in the underside edges of the front and sides of the top. The molding is flush with the edges of the top and overlaps the front and sides. Holes for now missing handles on the sides have been plugged with pegs. The lock and strap hinges appear original.

Primary: walnut; Secondary: white pine and Southern yellow pine.
ProvenanceDealer says piece was acquired in Virginia.