Walnut Bottle Case on Stand or Cellaret
Eastern Virginia
Circa 1790 – 1810
40 ½” tall x 16 ½” deep x 20 ½” wide
The bottle or gin case as it was known in the period, now commonly termed a cellaret, was a form that was used primarily in coastal Maryland, Virginia and northeastern North Carolina. This fine example is from a MEDSA recorded group with histories in the eastern Virginia Tidewater region. The choice of exceptionally finely figured walnut for the primary wood, the appealing proportions and pull out slide are characteristic of the best eastern Virginia cellarets. The case construction is distinguished by “blind” dovetails and the use of finished walnut as a backboard (as opposed to pine), suggesting that this cellaret was intended to be placed within a room rather than against a wall.
In her article on “Southern Bottle Cases” in the Magazine Antiques, Anne McPherson notes that the form followed as settlers from these coastal regions migrated into the piedmonts of Virginia and North Carolina and more rarely, into Tennessee and Kentucky. Cellarets are among the most iconic southern forms and are rare survivors, no doubt due to their rather fragile design and frequent use.
