1/12/2024 0 Comments Hidden bar dresserThe word bouteillier/ butler was later standardized as a reference to the staff person exercising custodial responsibility over the bottles contained in a cellarette or wine cellar. In the eighteenth century a cellarette was sometimes referred to as a "Mahogany Butler for liquors" or a "wine cooler" or a "butler". In 1803, furniture designer Thomas Sheraton described the piece as: "Cellaret, amongst cabinet makers, denotes a convenience for wine, or wine cistern. Renowned eighteenth century Charleston, South Carolina, furniture craftsman Thomas Elfe made several "Mahogany Cases for bottles with brass handles" for £12. In Hepplewhite's 1794 The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Guide he demonstrates cellarettes as being octagonal and elliptical shaped with internal compartments for bottles of wine and liquor. Some sources say that the word "cellarette" came into use during the eighteenth century at the time of cabinetmaker George Hepplewhite. It is associated with a food serving sideboard used in a formal dining room area of a home. When the word cellarette is broken apart as "cellar-ette" it denotes a small piece of furniture used to store bottles of alcoholic beverages. Sideboard, Cellarette, and Painting Cleveland Museum of Art - Gallery 205 Cellarette use declined in the 20th century due to the use of the refrigerator. Some examples were made in the shape of sarcophagi mounted with lions' heads and animal-paw feet. Eventually, as Neoclassicism gave way to the more ostentatious Empire style, cellarettes became heavier and more ornate, emphasizing Roman and Grecian motifs. In the late-18th and early-19th centuries, cellarettes were typically simple in design, following a Neoclassical aesthetic. Men of wealth had as many as three cellarettes at a time as a status symbol, not necessarily indicating one was a heavy drinker. The metal also prevented melted ice water from soaking into the wood. This allowed wine or food to be iced keeping them longer than if they were at room temperature. Some cellarettes were lined internally with metal. Frequently a lock was provided, to secure the contents from thieves. Normally a cellarette had a hinged door or hinged top cover. They could be free standing or built into a "pedestal-end" dining room buffet serving sideboard. Another type was a permanent piece of furniture built on a stand with a sliding shelf to hold glasses and a drawer for serving paraphernalia. Sometimes cellarettes were small portable pieces of furniture with handles that could be moved from room to room in a house. Cellarettes were generally associated with dining room furniture. They were often made of fine decorative wood like mahogany, rosewood, or walnut and could be of various shapes and sizes. Description Ĭellarettes in England and America were custom designed wooden chests to carry, transport and store small numbers of bottled alcoholic beverages. To the casual observer, the three dimensional trompe-l'œil artwork on these cellarettes made them appear to be an ordinary table, bookcase, or other piece of furniture. Prohibition in the United States brought about variations of trompe-l'œil cellarettes designed to conceal illegal alcoholic beverages. Cellarettes of the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries were found in taverns and pubs and, in some cases, in the private homes of the elite. Eighteenth century cellarette designs were used into the twentieth century. ĭuring the American Revolutionary War and the Civil War army officers' cellarettes often came with crystal decanters, shot glasses, pitchers, funnels, and drinking goblets. The main purpose of a liquor cabinet or cellarette was to secure wine and whiskey from theft as the bottles were hidden and the cabinet could have a lock. Cellarettes first appeared in colonial America in the eighteenth century as a form of the European liquor cabinet. Wood box containers as freestanding alcoholic beverage cabinets first appeared in Europe in the fifteenth century to hold and secure alcoholic beverages in public houses. They were found in pubs, taverns, and homes of the wealthy. They were usually made of a decorative wood and sometimes had special designs so as to conceal them from the casual observer. They first appeared in America in the early eighteenth century and were popular through the nineteenth century. Such wooden containers for alcoholic beverages appeared in Europe as early as the fifteenth century. They usually come with some type of security such as a lock to protect the contents. A cellarette or cellaret is a small furniture cabinet, available in various sizes, shapes, and designs which is used to store bottles of alcoholic beverages such as wine or whiskey.
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