SCOTTISH JAMES I AND VI OAK COURT CUPBOARD
EARLY 17TH CENTURY
£7,500
Auction: 24 June 2014 at 13:00 BST
Description
the moulded rectangular top over a deep frieze carved with tulips and sunburst motifs, above a central cupboard door, carved with thistles and a rose, flanked by flower carved roundels and cup-and-cover corner posts; the lower part with a leather-lined top, above a pair of cupboard doors carved with flowering urns, above a scrolling apron, raised on stile feet
Dimensions
122cm wide, 127cm high, 42cm deep
Footnote
Court cupboards of similar shape were popular in England during this period, and examples can be found in Victor Chinnery, Oak Furniture: The British Tradition, Woodbridge, 1979 pages 322 and 471. This particular example is rare and interesting for its thistle carving and its diminutive proportions. Only 127cm high, one other example of a similar height but wider was sold at Wilkinson's Auctioneers of Doncaster in their Hurst Collection & Period Oak Sale in 2010. The thistle carving on early 17th century examples such as this one may allude to the ascension of James I & VI to the throne. A beautiful thistle carved panel decorates another 17th century cupboard sold at Bonhams, Fine Oak Furniture, Pewter and Works of Art sale in 2007. Similar thistle motifs can be found on other oak court cupboards of different periods, such as the example found in another Bonhams sale,The Beedham Collection: Selected Oak Furniture & Works of Art 1450 - 1750 in 2012, which is dated Charles I and may have been made in the North Country. Another example is the Queen Anne cupboard sold at a Bonhams Oak sale in 2011, where the combination of thistle and rose decoration refers to the Act of Union of 1707.