cellarette

They first appeared in America in the early eighteenth century and were popular through the nineteenth century. They were usually made of decorative wood and sometimes had special designs so as to conceal them from the casual observer. They were found in pubs, taverns, and homes of the wealthy.

Wood box containers as freestanding alcoholic beverage cabinets first appeared in Europe in the fifteenth century to hold and secure alcoholic beverages in public houses. Cellarettes first appeared in colonial America in the eighteenth century as a form of the European liquor cabinet. The main purpose of a liquor cabinet or cellarette was to secure wine and whiskey from theft as the bottles were hidden and the cabinet could have a lock. During the American Revolutionary War and the Civil War army officers' cellarettes often came with crystal decanters, shot glasses, pitchers, funnels, and drinking goblets. Eighteenth century cellarette designs were used into the twentieth century. Cellarettes of the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries were found in taverns and pubs and, in some cases, in the private homes of the elite. Prohibition in the United States brought about variations of trompe-l'œil cellarettes designed to conceal illegal alcoholic beverages. To the casual observer, the three dimensional trompe-l'œil artwork on these cellarettes made them appear to be an ordinary table, bookcase, or other piece of furniture.

When the word cellarette is broken apart as "cellar-ette" it denotes a small piece of furniture used to store bottles of alcoholic beverages. It is associated with a food serving sideboard used in a formal dining room area of a home. Some sources say that the word "cellarette" came into use during the eighteenth century at the time of cabinetmaker George Hepplewhite. In Hepplewhite's 1794 The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Guide he demonstrates cellarettes as being octagonal and elliptical shaped with internal compartments for bottles of wine and liquor. Renowned eighteenth century Charleston, South Carolina, furniture craftsman Thomas Elfe made several "Mahogany Cases for bottles with brass handles" for £12. In 1803, furniture designer Thomas Sheraton described the piece as: "Cellaret, amongst cabinet makers, denotes a convenience for wine, or wine cistern. In the eighteenth century a cellarette was sometimes referred to as a "Mahogany Butler for liquors" or a "wine cooler" or a "butler". The word bouteillier/butler was later standardized as a reference to the staff person exercising custodial responsibility over the bottles contained in a cellarette or wine cellar.

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