ELIZABETHAN OAK LIVERY CUPBOARD
MID 16TH CENTURY
Estimate: £10,000 - £15,000
Auction: Lots 1 - 335 | 04 September at 10am
Description
the moulded top with cleated ends above a guilloche carved frieze, over a central cupboard door with a carved panel with Romayne profile busts of a man and woman, flanked by deep moulded panels, and enclosed by further guilloche carving, above a wavy shaped apron carved with fine scrolling motifs and raised on and chip-carved baluster forelegs united by an open undertier, with a conforming wavy apron
Dimensions
152cm wide, 120cm high, 65cm deep
Footnote
Note: The present cupboard shows close similarities to a well documented piece of early 16th century furniture illustrated in Percy Macquoid's, A History of English Furniture where it is called a credence cabinet. That cupboard was sold by Christies on March 8th, 2000. Most notable are the distinct chip-carved front supports and wavy apron which follow closely those on the cupboard illustrated by Macquoid and would suggest the two cupboards originate from the same workshop. The sinuous scrolled carving in the apron demonstrates a freedom which could be indicative of the move from the rigidity of Tudor period to the looser designs of the 16th century. The overall form relates to Franco-Flemish pieces, in particular the central drop-down pendant, and is not unlike the group of researched pieces which includes the Bretton Hall bed and sideboard at Temple Newsam, Leeds, thought to be possibly by a group of immigrant Flemish craftsmen.
Literature:
Percy Macquoid, A History of English Furniture, 1904; Plate II.
Frederick Litchfield, Illustrated History of Furniture, 1907
Fred Roe, Ancient Coffers and Cupboards, 1902