Antique American Cupboard
CUPBOARDS: PRESS AND COURT CUPBOARDS
About 1670-1700
Oak court cupboard, 1670-1680.
0riginally, a cupboard was literally a Cup Board - an open, three•tiered side table for displaying silver cups. The earliest American examples date from after 1670 and are partly enclosed with panels and doors - cupboards in the modern sense - but clearly meant as [...]

EARLY ANTIQUE EUROPEAN CUPBOARDS AND ARMOIRES
About 1300-1630
Vertical storage or display pieces with doors, as distinct from chests with lids, made from early Middle Ages onwards.
Byzantine, Romanesque, Gothic: Early surviving examples; armoire about 1176, arched doors and ends (Abbey Church of St Etienne, Obazine); sacristy cupboard, about 1200, massive plank construction, painted over coating of gesso [...]

ANTIQUE COURT CUPBOARDS WITH ENCLOSED SHELVES
About 1610-1800
Aprestigious item in the 17thC, much less so in the 18thC, when it was only country-made. Used for displaying and storing food and plates, cups, in the hall (later in the parlour) where meals were taken. Originally made without locks, therefore not intended to contain valuable items. Earliest surviving [...]

ANTIQUE COURT CUPBOARDS WITH OPEN SHELVES (BUFFETS)
About 1570-1680
Apiece of furniture derived from medieval prototypes, comprising a set of three open shelves, which in grand houses was draped with fabric or carpet and used to display plate, but in lesser homes could be used as a side-table. The names buffet, court cupboard, sideboard and dresser were [...]

COURT CUPBOARDS WITH ENCLOSED SHELVES
About 1610-1800
Aprestigious item in the HOC, much less so in the 18thC, when it was only country-made. Used for displaying and storing food and plates, cups, in the hall (later in the parlour) where meals were taken. Originally made without locks, therefore not intended to contain valuable items. Earliest surviving examples [...]

COURT CUPBOARDS  closed base
Most furniture of any height has a moulding round the top. Many court cupboards do not, or just very shallow ones. This seems to have caused a degree of embarrassment to generations of connoisseurs and dealers with the result that many now appear to have ‘later top moulding’. One should not be [...]

COURT CUPBOARDS  open base
Well-turned and carved melons (cup and cover). Again, note that the pattern does not need to match, also the box or holly and ebony inlay on the base appears in a mild form on the top of the two drawers. These were used as Tudor status symbols which could be employed to [...]