CUPBOARDS AND SIDEBOARDS
[Illustration]
CUPBOARDS appear in English inventories as early as 1344. Persons of
rank in England had their cupboards surmounted by a set of shelves to
display the silver and gold plate. Each shelf was narrower than the one
beneath, like a set of steps, and the number of shelves indicated the
rank of the owner, five being the greatest number, to be used by the
king only.
The first cupboard consisted of an open framework, a “borde” upon which
to set cups, as the name implies. Later it was partially enclosed
below, and this enclosed cupboard was used to hold valuables, or
sometimes the food which was afterward distributed by the lady of the
house. This was known as an almery or press cupboard, the former name
corresponding to the French word _armoire_.
[Illustration: Illus. 68.—Oak Press Cupboard, 1640.]
The names “court cupboard” or “livery cupboard” were used to designate
a piece of furniture without an enclosed cupboard, low or short, as
the French word _court_ implies, and intended for a serving-table, as
the word “livery,” from the French _livrer_, to deliver, indicates. In
Europe such pieces were called _dressoirs_.
Cupboards abound in colonial inventories, under various names—“small
cupboard,” “great cupboard,” “press cupboard,” “wainscot cupboard,”
“court cupboard,” “livery cupboard,” “hanging cupboard,” “sideboard
cupboard.” The cupboard formed an important part of the furniture owned
by men of wealth and position in the colonies.
These cupboards were generally of oak, but those made in this country
have the backs and bottoms of the cupboards and drawers of pine. The
interior is similar in all, the lower cupboard usually having shelves,
which seldom appear in the upper cupboard. Sometimes the lower part of
the piece is divided into drawers for holding linen.
[Illustration: Illus. 69.—Press Cupboard, about 1650.]
Such a cupboard is shown in Illustration 68. This fine example is known
as the “Putnam cupboard.” It is now owned by the Essex Institute, of
Salem, to which it was presented by Miss Harriet Putnam Fowler of
Danvers, Massachusetts. It descended to her from John Putnam, who
brought it from England about 1640. Upon the back may be seen marks of
a fire which two hundred years ago destroyed the house in which the
cupboard stood. The wood is English oak, and the mouldings used in the
panelling are of cedar. The cupboard is in two parts, the upper section
with the enclosed cupboard resting upon the lower section with its
three drawers.
Another panelled cupboard is shown in Illustration 69, in which both
the upper and lower parts are made with a recessed cupboard, enclosed,
with a drawer below. The wood is oak, with the turned pieces painted
black. This cupboard is in the house of Charles R. Waters, Esq., of
Salem. Upon the top are displayed some good pieces of old glass.
Many press cupboards were carved in designs similar to those upon the
early chests. Illustration 70 shows a carved press cupboard owned by
Walter Hosmer, Esq., of Wethersfield.
[Illustration: Illus. 70.—Carved Press Cupboard, 1680-1690.]
The wood is American oak and the cupboard was probably made in
Connecticut, where there must have been unusually good cabinet-makers
during the last half of the seventeenth century, for many of the
best oak chests and cupboards existing in this country were made in
Connecticut. This cupboard is very large, measuring five feet in
height and four feet in width.
All cupboards were provided with cupboard cloths or cushions, the
latter probably made somewhat thicker than the simple cloth, by the use
of several layers of goods or of stuffing. These cloths or cushions
were placed on the top of the cupboard, to set the glass or silver
upon, and the early inventories have frequent mention of them. By 1690
the press cupboard had gone out of fashion, and but few were made after
1700, although they continued to be used by those who already owned
them.
About 1710 the corner cupboard made its appearance, often under the
name “beaufet” or “beaufatt.” It was generally built into the corner,
and was finished to correspond with the panelling around the room.
The lower part was closed by panelled doors, and the upper part had
sometimes one glass door, sometimes two, opening in the middle; but
more often it was left without a door. The top of the beaufatt was
usually made in the form of an apse, and in the finest specimens the
apse was carved in a large shell. The shelves were not made to take up
the entire space in the cupboard, but extended around the back, and
were cut in curves and projections, evidently to fit pieces of glass or
china, for the display of which the beaufatt was built rather than to
serve as a simple closet. A fine beaufatt is shown in Illustration 71,
which is in the Deerfield Museum. From the construction of the pillars
at the side it is evident that it was not intended to use a door to the
upper part.
That there was some distinction between the corner cupboard and the
beaufatt would appear from the difference in their valuation in
inventories, but what was the difference in their construction we do
not know.
[Illustration: Illus. 71.—Corner “Beaufatt,” 1740-1750.]
Cupboards were made, during the latter part of the eighteenth century,
of mahogany and other woods, and such corner cupboards, made as a
piece of furniture and not built into the house, were common in the
Southern States, about 1800. The corner cupboard, or beaufatt, was both
convenient and ornamental, taking up but little room and filling what
was often an empty space. Our ancestors frequently utilized the large
chimney also, by making the sides into small closets or cupboards, and
occasionally a door with glass panes was set into the chimney above the
mantel, with shelves behind it to hold glass or china.
While the New England inventories speak of cupboards, the word _kas_,
or _kasse_, appears in Dutch inventories in New York. The kas was the
Dutch cupboard, and was different in style from the cupboard in use in
New England. It was of great size, and had large doors, behind which
were wide shelves to hold linen. The kas was usually made in two parts,
the upper one having two doors and a heavy cornice above. The lower
part held a long drawer, and rested upon large ball feet. A panelled
kas of somewhat different form is shown in Illustration 72, without
the ball feet, and made in three parts; the lower section with the
drawer, the middle cupboard section, enclosed with large doors, and a
second cupboard above that, the whole surmounted with a cornice. This
kas is made of kingwood, a hard wood with a grain not unlike that of
oak, but with darker markings. The bill of lading is still preserved,
dated 1701, when the kas, packed full of fine linen, was imported
from Holland by the father of Dr. Samuel Johnson, president of King’s
College from 1754 to 1763. It is now owned by Dr. Johnson’s descendant,
Mrs. Johnson-Hudson of Stratford, Connecticut.
[Illustration: Illus. 72.—Kas, 1700.]
Inventories during the latter years of the seventeenth century speak
of a “sideboard cupboard,” “sideboard table,” and “side-table,” but
the sideboard, in our acceptance of the word, dates to the latter half
of the eighteenth century. Chippendale designed no sideboards with
drawers and compartments, but he did design side-tables, or sideboard
tables, with marble or mahogany tops and carved frames. A Chippendale
side-table is shown in Illustration 73. The wood is mahogany, and the
frame is carved elaborately and beautifully in designs similar to those
of Chippendale and his contemporaries, which abound in flowers, birds,
and shells. The cabriole legs end in massive lion’s paws. This table is
what is called Irish Chippendale.
[Illustration: Illus. 73.—Chippendale Side-table, about 1755.]
In Ireland, working at the same period as Chippendale, drawing their
ideas from the same sources, and probably from Chippendale as well,
were cabinet-makers, much of whose work has come down, notably
side-tables. The shell plays a prominent part; on this table beside the
large shell are two small ones upon each leg. The carving of the Irish
school is not so fine as its English model, but is very rich. This
table is five feet long and the original top was of marble. It is owned
by Harry Harkness Flagler, Esq., of Millbrook, New York.
[Illustration: Illus. 74.—Chippendale Side-table, 1765.]
A Chippendale side-table is shown in Illustration 74, which was
evidently made in England, from Chippendale’s designs, if not by
Chippendale himself. It is very long and has had to sustain a great
weight in the heavy marble top, but it is in splendid condition,
perhaps because it is so heavy that it is seldom moved. It has passed
through many vicissitudes,—war, fire and earthquake,—in Charleston,
South Carolina, since it was brought there by the ancestor of its
present owner, George W. Holmes, Esq., of Charleston.
These long side-tables were designed not only by Chippendale, but by
the other cabinet-makers and designers of the day, Ince and Mayhew,
and Manwaring; but the tables of these less noted men usually are made
after the prevailing Chinese style, with applied fretwork and legs
which are pierced, thus depriving them of the strength necessary in
so large a piece. Chippendale made these also, but in this table the
cabinet-maker chose a design which looks and is strong. The carving is
in scrolls done in the solid wood, and is French in design. The bracket
at the top of the leg is made in a scroll, which extends entirely
around the table.
The earliest mention of a sideboard, the description of which implies
a form of construction similar to that of the later sideboard, is
in 1746, when an advertisement in a London newspaper speaks of “a
Large marble Sideboard Table with Lavatory and Bottle Cistern.”
Chippendale’s designs, published in 1753 and 1760, contain nothing
answering to this description, and both he and other cabinet-makers
of that period give drawings of side-tables only, without even a
drawer beneath. Such a sideboard as this advertisement of 1746
mentions, may have given the idea from which, forty years later, was
developed the sideboard of mahogany, often inlaid, with slender legs
and curved front, which is shown in the majority of antique shops as
“Chippendale,” while the heavy veneered sideboard, with claw feet and
compartments extending nearly to the floor, made after 1800, goes
under the name of “Colonial.” One name is as incorrect as the other.
Thomas Shearer, an English cabinet-maker, designed the first of the
slender-legged sideboards, and they appear in his drawings published
in 1788. Hepplewhite’s book, published in 1789, gave similar drawings,
as did Sheraton’s in 1791, and these three cabinet-makers designed the
sideboards which were so fashionable from 1789 to 1805. The majority
which are found in this country were probably made here, but one is
shown in Illustration 75, which has a most romantic history of travel
and adventure. It is in the half-circle shape which was Shearer’s
favorite design, and was probably of English make, although it was
brought from France to America.
In 1792 the ship _Sally_, consigned to Colonel Swan, sailed from
France, laden with rich furniture, tapestries, robes, everything
gathered together in Paris which might have belonged to a royal lady.
[Illustration: Illus. 75.—Shearer Sideboard and Knife-box, 1792.]
The _Sally_ came to Wiscasset, Maine, and the story told “down East”
is that there was a plot to rescue Marie Antoinette, and the _Sally_
was laden for that purpose; and that a house had been built in a Maine
seaport for the queen, whose execution put an end to the plot, and sent
the _Sally_ off to America with her rich cargo. I cannot help thinking
that if the story be true, Marie Antoinette was spared many weary days
of discontent and homesickness; for the temperament of the unfortunate
queen, luxury loving, gay, and heedless, does not fit into the life of
a little Maine seaport town one hundred years ago. When the _Sally_
arrived, her cargo of beautiful things was sold. Legends of Marie
Antoinette furniture crop up all around the towns in the neighborhood
of Wiscasset, but, singularly enough, I have been unable to trace a
single piece in Maine except this sideboard. Miss Elizabeth Bartol of
Boston, whose mother was a granddaughter of Colonel Swan, owns several
pieces. Colonel Swan’s son married the daughter of General Knox and
took the sideboard with him to General Knox’s home in Thomaston, Maine,
where it remained for many years.
The sideboard is made of oak (showing its English origin) veneered
with mahogany. The lines upon the front and the figures upon the legs
are inlaid in satinwood, and the knife-box is inlaid in the same wood.
The top of the sideboard is elaborately inlaid with satinwood and dark
mahogany, in wide bands, separated by lines of ebony and satinwood,
and crossed by fine satinwood lines radiating from the centre. The
handles and escutcheons are of silver, and the top of the knife-box is
covered by a silver tray with a reticulated railing. The coffee-urn is
of Sheffield plate, and the sideboard with its appurtenances appears
to-day as it did one hundred years ago in the house of General Knox. It
is now owned by the Hon. James Phinney Baxter of Portland, Maine.
[Illustration: Illus. 76.—Urn-shaped Knife-box, 1790.]
Knife-boxes were made of different shapes, to hold knives, forks,
and spoons, and a pair of knife-boxes was the usual accompaniment to
a handsome sideboard. The most skilled cabinet-makers were employed
in their manufacture, as each curved section had to be fitted most
carefully.
Illustration 76 shows an urn-shaped knife-box of mahogany inlaid in
lines of holly. The interior of the box is fitted with circular trays
of different heights, and through the little openings in these trays
the knives and spoons were suspended.
[Illustration: Illus. 77.—Urn-shaped Knife-box, 1790.]
Illustration 77 shows an urn-shaped knife-box opened. The top rests
upon a wooden rod which extends through the middle of the box, and
instead of turning back with a hinge, the top slides up on this rod,
and when it is raised to a certain height it releases a spring which
holds the rod firmly in its place. This urn knife-box is in the
Pendleton collection in Providence, Rhode Island.
Urn-shaped boxes were designed by Adam, and are shown in his drawings,
to stand upon pedestals at each end of the side table, to be used,
one for ice-water, and one for hot water, for the butler to wash the
silver, not so plentiful then as now. Very soon the urn-shaped boxes
were utilized to hold the knives, forks and spoons. Adam, Shearer,
Hepplewhite and Sheraton show designs for knife-boxes, many of them
elaborately carved or inlaid, but they must have been very costly, and
within the means only of such noblemen, who, in Sheraton’s words, “are
unrestrained with the thoughts of expensiveness.”
The usual shape of knife-box found is shown in Illustration 78, owned
by Mrs. Clarence R. Hyde, of Brooklyn, N. Y. It is inlaid both outside
and inside and the handles and fittings are of silver. The books of
designs show boxes of this shape, with the lid put back, as in this
illustration, and used to support a large silver plate.
[Illustration: Illus. 78.—Knife-box, 1790.]
Mahogany was chiefly used in sideboards, with inlaying of satinwood,
holly, king, tulip, snake, zebra, yew, maple, and other woods.
Occasionally one finds a sideboard veneered with walnut. The curves
at the front vary considerably, the ends being convex, and the centre
straight; or the ends concave, forming with the centre a double curve.
A sideboard with rounded ends and only four legs was made in large
numbers around Philadelphia.
Illustration 79 shows a Hepplewhite sideboard owned by the writer. It
is of mahogany veneered upon pine, and it was probably the work of a
Connecticut cabinet-maker of about 1790. Six chairs, made to go with
the sideboard, are similarly inlaid, and the knife-boxes, which have
always stood upon this sideboard, have fine lines of inlaying. There
is one central long drawer, beneath which, slightly recessed, are
doors opening into a cupboard, and two bottle drawers, each fitted
with compartments to hold four bottles. There is a cupboard at each
curved end, with a drawer above. The coloring of the wood used in this
sideboard is very beautiful. Each drawer and door is veneered with a
bright red mahogany, with golden markings in the grain, and this is
framed in dark mahogany, outlined in two lines of satinwood with an
ebony line between. The oval pieces above the legs and the bell-flower
design upon the legs are of satinwood. The combination of the different
shades of mahogany with the light satinwood is most effective. The
handles are new. When this sideboard came into the possession of the
writer, the old handles had been removed and large and offensive ones
of pressed brass had been fastened upon every available spot, with that
love for the showy which seizes upon country people when they attempt
the process known as “doing over.” The lids of the knife-boxes open
back with hinges, and the interior is fitted with a slanting tray,
perforated with openings of different shapes to hold knives, with the
handles up, and spoons with the bowls up. A fine line of inlaying goes
round each of the openings.
[Illustration: Illus. 79.—Hepplewhite Sideboard and Knife-boxes, about
1790.]
The handles and escutcheons of the knife-boxes are of silver. Upon the
top of the sideboard are several pieces of Sheffield plate. At each end
is a double coaster upon wheels, with a long handle. Another double
coaster, somewhat higher and with reticulated sides, stands beside
the coffee-urn, and two single coasters are in front. All of these
coasters have wooden bottoms, and were used to hold wine decanters, the
double coasters upon wheels having been designed, so the story goes, by
Washington, for convenience in circulating the wine around the table.
Illustration 80 shows a Hepplewhite sideboard with a serpentine front,
the doors to the side cupboards being concave, as well as the space
usually occupied by bottle drawers, while the small cupboard doors
in the middle are convex. A long rounding drawer extends across the
centre and projects beyond the cupboard below it, while a slide pulls
out, forming a shelf, between the long drawer and the small cupboard.
There are no bottle drawers in this sideboard. The doors are inlaid
with a fan at each corner, and fine lines of holly are inlaid around
the legs, doors, and drawer. The silver pieces upon the sideboard top
are family heirlooms. The large tea-caddies at each end are of pewter
finely engraved. This sideboard is owned by Francis H. Bigelow, Esq.,
of Cambridge.
A charming little sideboard owned by Mr. Bigelow is shown in
Illustration 81. The ordinary measurements of sideboards like the
last two shown are six feet in length, forty inches in height, and
twenty-eight inches in depth. These measures, with slight variations,
give the average size of Hepplewhite sideboards. Occasionally one finds
a small piece like Illustration 81, evidently made to fit some space.
This sideboard measures fifty-four inches in length, thirty-four in
height, and twenty-three in depth.
[Illustration: Illus. 80.—Hepplewhite Serpentine-front Sideboard,
1790.]
It has no cupboard, the space below the slightly rounding drawer in the
centre being left open. There are fine lines and fans of inlaying in
satinwood, and in the centre of the middle drawer is an oval inlay with
an urn in colored woods. The handles are not original, and should be of
pressed brass, oval or round. The silver service upon the sideboard
is of French plate, made about 1845, and is of unusually graceful and
elegant design.
Hepplewhite’s sideboards seldom had fluted legs, which seem to have
been a specialty of Sheraton, though the latter used the square leg as
well. A feature in some of Sheraton’s designs for sideboards was the
brass railing at the back, often made in an elaborate design.
[Illustration: Illus. 81.—Hepplewhite Sideboard, about 1795.]
Illustration 82 shows a Sheraton sideboard, or side-table, with brass
rods extending across the back, and branches for candles at each end.
This railing was designed to support the plates which were stood at the
back of the sideboard, and also to keep the lids of knife and spoon
boxes from falling back against the wall. The branches for candles
were recommended for the light which the candles would throw upon the
silver. This side-table is very large, measuring six feet eight inches
in length, thirty inches in depth, and thirty-eight from the floor to
the top of the table. The wood is mahogany, inlaid with satinwood.
It is unusual to find such a piece in this country, and this is the
only example of an old Sheraton side-table or sideboard with the brass
railing which I have ever seen here. It is owned by John C. MacInnes,
Esq., of Worcester, and it was inherited by him from a Scotch ancestor.
[Illustration: Illus. 82.—Sheraton Side-table, 1795.]
Sheraton speaks of a “sideboard nine or ten feet long, as in some
noblemen’s houses,” but he admits that “There are other sideboards for
small dining-rooms, made without either drawers or pedestals.”
[Illustration: Illus. 83.—Sheraton Side-table, 1795.]
A charming little side-table, or sideboard, is shown in Illustration
83, belonging to Dwight M. Prouty, Esq., of Boston. It is of mahogany,
and is inlaid with three oval pieces of satinwood, giving the little
piece a very light effect. The legs also add to that appearance, the
reeded upper section tapering down to a turning and ending in a plain
round foot, which looks almost too small for such a piece. The outline
of the body is curved down to the legs, making an arch upon the front
and sides.
A sideboard of distinctly Sheraton design is shown in Illustration
84. It has the reeded legs which are the almost unmistakable mark of
Sheraton. The ends of this sideboard are straight, and only the front
is rounding in shape, unlike the sideboard in Illustration 75, which
forms a complete semicircle.
[Illustration: Illus. 84.—Sheraton Sideboard with Knife-box, 1795.]
The wood is of mahogany, inlaid with fine lines of holly. The little
shield-shaped escutcheons at the keyholes are of ivory. There are three
drawers above the cupboards and two bottle drawers. Upon the top, at
each end, is a wine-cooler of Sheffield plate, and in the centre is a
mahogany inlaid knife-box similar to the one in Illustration 78. This
sideboard is owned by Dwight Blaney, Esq., of Boston.
[Illustration: Illus. 85.—Sheraton Sideboard, about 1800.]
A Sheraton sideboard of later date is shown in Illustration 85. It
is of mahogany, and was probably made about 1800. The arched open
space in the middle was left for the cellaret, which was the usual
accompaniment of the sideboard in those days of hard drinking. The
top of this sideboard is surmounted by drawers, with a back above the
drawers. The legs and the columns above them are reeded, and the
little columns at the corners of the upper drawers are carved, the
inner ones with a sheaf of wheat, and the two outside corners with the
acanthus leaf. This sideboard was formerly owned by Rejoice Newton,
Esq., of Worcester, from whom it has descended to Waldo Lincoln, Esq.,
of Worcester.
[Illustration: Illus. 86.—Sheraton Sideboard, about 1805.]
Illustration 86 shows the latest type of a Sheraton sideboard, owned
by the Colonial Dames of Pennsylvania, and now in “Stenton,” the
house built in 1727 by James Logan, William Penn’s secretary. The
sideboard stands where it was placed, about 1805, by George Logan, the
great-great grandson of James. The wood is mahogany, and the large
square knife-boxes were evidently made to fit the sideboard. The legs,
with spade feet, are short, bringing the body of the sideboard close to
the floor. The handles are brass knobs.
[Illustration: Illus. 87.—Cellarets, 1790.]
Cellarets were made as a part of the dining-room furniture. They
were lined with zinc, to hold the ice in which the wine bottles were
packed to cool, and at the lower edge of the body of the cellaret was
a faucet, or some arrangement by which the water from the melted ice
could be drawn off. They were designed by Chippendale and all of his
contemporaries and by the later cabinet-makers,—Adam, Hepplewhite,
and Sheraton.
Illustration 87 shows two cellarets of different styles. The cellaret
of octagonal shape, brass bound, with straight legs, is of the style
most commonly found. It is in the Poore collection, at Indian Hill.
Cellarets of this shape figure in books of designs from 1760 to 1800.
The other is oval in form, and has the leg usually attributed to the
Adam brothers. This cellaret belongs to Francis H. Bigelow, Esq., of
Cambridge. Both cellarets are of mahogany.
We now come to sideboards of the type called “Colonial”; why, it would
be difficult to trace, since sideboards of this heavy design were not
made until over twenty-five years after the time that the United States
took the place of the American colonies.
The heavy Empire fashions gained such popularity in the early years
of the nineteenth century that furniture made after those fashions
entirely superseded the graceful slender-legged styles of Shearer,
Hepplewhite, and Sheraton, and sideboards were made as heavy and clumsy
as the others had been light and graceful. The cupboards were extended
nearly to the floor, from which the sideboard was lifted by balls
or by large carved bears’ feet. Round pillars, veneered, or carved
similar to bedposts of the period, with a twist, or the pineapple and
acanthus leaf, were used upon the front, and small drawers were added
to the top. At about this time glass handles came into fashion, and
many of these heavy sideboards have knobs of glass, either clear or
opalescent. The brass handles that were used were either the rosette
and ring or the knob shape.
[Illustration: Illus. 88.—Sideboard, 1810-1820.]
Illustration 88 shows a sideboard of this period, 1810-1820, made
of mahogany; the panels to the doors, the veneered pillars, and the
piece at the back of the top being of a lighter and more finely marked
mahogany than the rest, which is quite dark. There is a little panel
inlaid in colors upon the lower rail in the centre. The handles are the
rosette and ring, the smaller handles matching the large ones. This
sideboard belonged to the late Colonel DeWitt of Oxford, Massachusetts,
and it is now owned by W. S. G. Kennedy, Esq., of Worcester.
Another type of mahogany Empire sideboard, and one often seen, is shown
in Illustration 89. It is owned by L. J. Shapiro, Esq., of Norfolk,
Virginia. The body of the sideboard is raised from the floor by very
handsome bears’ feet, and the posts extending up to the drawers are
carved, and topped by typical Empire carvings of wing effect, which
separate the drawers. The centre section of doors is curved outward
slightly, and there is a band of carving across the lower edge, below
the doors.
[Illustration: Illus. 89.—Empire Sideboard, 1810-1820.]
In the eighteenth and early nineteenth century the temperance question
did not enter the heads of the fine gentlemen of the day, and the
serving of wine was an important consideration. The cellaret or wine
cooler accompanied the sideboard, which in the drawings of Hepplewhite,
Shearer, and Sheraton had bottle drawers.
[Illustration: Illus. 90.—Sheraton Mixing-table, 1790.]
What Shearer called “a gentleman’s social table” was designed by
several, with conveniences for bottles, glasses, and biscuit, and for
facilitating the progress of the wine around the table. In this country
the mixing of punch or other beverages was furthered by a piece of
furniture called a mixing table.
[Illustration: Illus. 91.—Mixing-table, 1810-1820.]
Mrs. Charles Custis Harrison, of St. David’s, Pennsylvania, owns the
mixing table in Illustration 90, and a sideboard to match it. Both
pieces were inherited from Robert Morris, in whose famous mansion in
Philadelphia they stood. The wood of the table is mahogany and the
drawers and doors are of satinwood, finely inlaid. There is a well in
the top for a bowl, in which was brewed the punch of the Philadelphia
forefathers. The cover of the table is hinged, and the four shelves
which show in the illustration fold flat when the cover is down.
The table in Illustration 91 belongs to the Misses Garrett of
Williamsburg, Virginia, and is known as a “mint julep” table, having
been made for the concocting of that Southern beverage by a Baltimore
cabinet-maker. There are shelves behind the door for the accessories to
the julep, and for the mixing of it the top of the table is marble.