Standing livery cupboard
Category
Furniture
Date
circa 1600 - 1625
Materials
Oak, carved, turned and joined, inlaid with fruitwoods
Measurements
77 x 123 cm
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire
NT 1127747
Summary
An oak and inlaid two-tier standing livery cupboard, or court cuboard, English, early 17th century, but probably modified and lacking its top tier, the rectangular top above a reeded frieze applied with corbels and above a chequer-inlaid long drawer, between ebony-inlaid flutes, raised on a pair of gadrooned and leaf-carved bulbous front supports, and flute-inlaid rear supports, on a base with chequer-inlaid frieze and base moulding. -- Much of the 16th and 17th century oak at Hardwick Hall, the indigenous pieces aside, was probably purchased by the 6th Duke in the 19th century to enhance the Elizabethan feel of the property, much as his contemporary, Charles Winn of Nostell Priory, is known to have done (Westgarth, Raikes). The 6th Duke is recorded, for instance, as having bought 'oak Arm chairs' in 1846.
Provenance
Appears in its current form in the Long Gallery in a watercolour by David Cox c. 1839 - 1840. By descent until, following the death of Edward William Spencer Cavendish, 10th Duke of Devonshire (1895 - 1950), Hardwick Hall and its contents were accepted by HM Treasury in part payment of death duties and transferred to the National Trust, in 1959.
References
Westgarth 2009, M. Westgarth, 'A Biographical Register of Nineteenth Century Antique and Curiosity Dealers', Regional Furniture XXIII (2009), 1 - 205 Raikes, 2003: S.Raikes. ““A cultivated eye for the antique”: Charles Winn and the enrichment of Nostell Priory in the nineteenth century.” Apollo 157.494 (2003): pp.3-8.