A small and interesting Elizabeth I joined oak three-tier buffet or court cup-board, circa 1580
The single-board top with egg-and-dart underfrieze, above a highly unusual narrow cupboard masquerading as a traditional frieze, enclosed by two slender boarded doors, each deeply reed-carved and pin-hinged, and centred by a leaf-carved corbel, which slides to reveal a lock, and with a matching corbel to each end, the middle-tier with a similarly carved front rail, raised on reeded cup-and cover and parallel-baluster front supports, 99cm wide x 38cm deep x 119.5cm high, (38 1/2in wide x 14 1/2in deep x 47in high)
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Provenance:Sold Sotheby's, London, 19 December 1969, Lot 141 [£2,800], to Barling of Mount Street Ltd., LondonSold 20 December 1969 [£2,940], to John David Drummond, 13th Viscount Strathallan, 17th Earl of Perth, [1907 - 2002], Stobhall Castle, PerthshireSold Bonhams Edinburgh, 'Stobhall - The Property of Viscount Strathallan', 2 May 2012, Lot 363Literature:Illustrated Victor Chinnery, Oak Furniture: The British Tradition (2016), p. 273, fig. 3:253 Victor Chinnery notes that the term 'cup-board' has its origins in the Middle Ages, when it described a side table of one or more tiers for holding or displaying valuable plate and food, or for serving from during meals - literally a 'board' for 'cups'. The origin of the term 'court', although much disputed, may possibly be associated with the French for 'short', since almost without exception, 'court cup-boards' stand lower than average eye level, so that the top of all boards has a finished surface.