16th/17th Century Elizabethan Carved Oak Three-Tier Court Server

Details

Description

A scarce period late 16th / early 17th century with later elements Elizabethan carved oak three-tier court cupboard - sideboard … Read more A scarce period late 16th / early 17th century with later elements Elizabethan carved oak three-tier court cupboard - sideboard server. English / Northern European; circa 1600

Hand-crafted of solid oak single board planks, heavy profusely carved bulbous turned columns, scalloped and pierced decorative elements and elaborate carvings.

Provenance / Acquisition:
Acquired from reputable auction house Bright Star Antiques, Sulfur Springs, Texas.

Very similar notable examples can be found:

Christie's; auction 14963, The Collector: English and European Furniture, Works of Art & Ceramics & Silver catalog, October 2017, lot 576, Property of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Elizabethan three-tier oak court cupboard, circa 1600 with modifications

Philadelphia Museum of Art; Gallery 363, European Art 1500-1850, third floor, English court cupboard, circa 1575-1600

Dimensions:(approx)
45" High, 52" Wide, 19" Deep
Each tier: 49.5" x 17"

Condition:
Great condition overall. Strong, sturdy, stable, structurally. Presents very well. A later top and center board highlights richly grained antique oak, while the lowest tier plank and frame showcase the beautifully aged distressed dark patina that can only be acquired over very long periods of time.

Delivered cleaned, waxed, ready for immediate use and generational enjoyment!

History of Elizabethan Court & Plate Cupboards:

Elizabethan furniture is the form which the Renaissance took in England in furniture and general ornament, and in furniture it is as distinctive a form as its French and Italian counterparts.

In medieval and Tudor times antique cupboards, or cup boards, generally meant a simple board on which plates, cups, and jugs were placed for storage in the kitchen, or meant items of furniture with open shelves.

Cupboards with doors were extant, being called close cupboards or presses, and were made in increasing numbers and variety through the historic Elizabethan period and beyond.

Court Cupboards
"Court" from French meaning short, cupboards, also called buffet cupboards, were the antique ancestors of dressers and sideboards and were used to display plates, flaggons, cans, cups, beakers, and other manner of plate, and also as service tables

Court cupboards resembled 2 or 3 tier stands and had plain posts as rear supports. At the front heavily carved, inlaid, and turned bulbs with Ionic capitals connected the shelves together.

The production of court cupboards lasted through the Jacobean period in the cities ceased from around 1660 due to dramatic decline in popularity, although as always, country furniture craftsmen continued to snub their noses at town fashions and laboured on. See less