Images(3)

Court cupboard

Date1670-1690

Attributed to Harvard College Joiners

OriginAmerica, Massachusetts, Cambridge

MediumOak, white pine, maple, cedrella, and black walnut

DimensionsOH: 51 1/4"; OW: 45 1/2"; OD: 20 5/8"

Credit LineGift of Mr. & Mrs. Miodrag R. Blagojevich

Object number1976-435

DescriptionCourt cupboard. A heavy molded top in pine surrounds this great oak press cupboard. Under the heavy molding is a row of diagonal dentiling; also on this surface are rectangular vertical bosses in groups of three. Beneath this are three groups of small vertical applied pieces, below these are two slanting oval bosses. The cornice is supported by two extremely boldly turned free standing columns and the face of the upper case retreats back about 6 1/2". This face contains two square doors flanking a simulated arch topper door. The two outer doors have sunken octagonal panels outlined by moldings, decorated with a center black oval boss. There are sunken areas in the corners painted black. The center simulated door is flanked by two pairs of applied half spindles painted black. The lower case has a molded top matching that of the upper case. Below this is one long drawer simulated to look like two drawers with a wooden knob on each drawer. This is a larger repetition of the frieze above. This long drawer is flanked by two diagonally placed black painted bosses. Below this there is a center cupboard flanked by two simulated cupboards. Each has a sunken panel, moldings painted black and boss at the center. The stiles at the base run directly to the floor and are decorated with scooped out moldings which are painted black and strange light rectangular bosses at the top. The end of the top has one recessed panel. The end of the base has two recessed panels decorated with black molding. The backboard and bottom as well as drawer bottoms are white pine. All other framing and panels are white oak. The top, which is an ancient replacement, is pine. The bottom of the top case is white pine as well. The molded pine top of the base section is also an ancient restoration. The drawer has the typical side runners of the period.
Label TextUsed to display silver and imported ceramics more than to store them, cupboards made of mortised-and-tenoned rails and stiles with inset panels represent the finest furniture in America during the seventeenth century. The unidentified first owner of this cupboard probably lived near Harvard College in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where John Taylor (d. 1683), John Palfrey (w. 1664-1689), and Zachariah Hicks, Jr. (1651-1752) worked successively as the school's joiners beginning in 1638.
Inscribed"SA" scratched into backboard of lower case.
MarkingsNo
ProvenanceCol & Mrs. Miodrag R. Blagojevich 1962-1976
Joe Kinding, Jr. & Son