Antique Cupboards
Essentially an antique cupboard is an incredibly useful item of furniture, every household these days will tend to feature cupboards throughout their rooms. There are a variety of types of antique cupboard including the cupboard table, the corner cupboard, the bedside cupboard and a storage cupboard.
Technically speaking a cupboards purpose is to store goods, whether it be books, clothing, crockery or dried food, although a practical piece of furniture, there are some very attractive antique cupboards to pick up.
History of the Cupboard
The term cupboard initially referred to a side table that displayed plates, saucers and cups. These side tables were open shelved, normally with one to three tiers, sometimes there was also a drawer fitted into the cupboard for crockery, it was often used as a place to put excess food. Gradually, over the years the term cupboard became synonymous with a closed piece of furniture.
A freestanding unit with enclosed shelves was once known as an ambry, this word later came to represent a cupboard made to hold valuables, the word cupboard referred generally to a place that stored plates and food.
Taller cupboards used to store clothes became known as wardrobes, and cupboards to store books-bookcases. By the 18th C cupboards as we know them today had gained in popularity and made up a significant part of the paneling of a kitchen.
Types of Antique Cupboards
Antique Cupboards were made from a variety of woods. Namely oak, mahogany, burr walnut and pine, those made from hardwood are more durable and sturdy and will have withstood years of use. A particularly nice example of an antique cupboard is a bow-fronted Georgian corner cupboard, nice corner cupboards can also be found from the Victorian period between 1837-1901. Victorian cupboards generally have a darker finish, with heavy proportions as opposed to Arts and Crafts cupboards, which are simpler and more utilitarian in their design.
Other forms of cupboard were Linen Presses, made largely during the 17th, 18th and 19thC, linen presses were used to store textiles, sheets and table cloths among other fabrics. Linen press cupboards from the 18th and 19th C can have expensive veneers and make a particularly nice piece in the bedroom.
Another antique cupboard particularly popular in the bedroom is the antique bedside cupboard, these cupboards are often on legs and it is nice to purchase a pair that sit either side of the bed, a particularly nice pair of antique bedside tables are burr walnut Art Deco bedside tables, that are highly polished and streamlined in their design.
