Advanced Search 
Court cupboard
1685–90
Object Place: Northern Essex County, prob. Ipswich or Newbury, Massachusetts
Medium/Technique
Oak, maple, white pine
Dimensions
149.22 x 123.19 x 49.21 cm (58 3/4 x 48 1/2 x 19 3/8 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Maurice Geeraerts in memory of Mr. and Mrs. William R. Robeson
Accession Number51.53
CollectionsAmericas
ClassificationsFurniture – Case furniture and boxes
The cupboard--used to store textiles and to display silver, glass, ceramics, and other costly wares--was among the most expensive and prominent articles of domestic furniture. This example is richly embellished with almost the full vocabulary of seventeenth-century ornament: shallow relief carving; crisp turnings; moldings derived from architectural sources; and decoration painted black, in imitation of ebony. Period inventories mention fine linen covering the tops of cupboards, such as the "two diaper cuberd cloaths" and "one hollond one" in the 1691 inventory of Jonathan Avery of Dedham.
Catalogue Raisonné
Randall 20
Provenance1863, said to have been sold from the John Hancock House, Boston to Zachariah Allen (b. 1795 – d. 1882), Providence [See note 1]; by descent to his granddaughter, Mary Allen Robeson (Mrs. Charles Sprague) Sargent (b. 1853 – d. 1919), Boston; to her cousin, William Robeson (b. 1843 – d. c. 1918), MA and Brussels; to his wife, Constance de la Hault Robeson (b. 1858), Brussels; by inheritance to her cousin, Maurice Geeraerts; 1951, gift of Maurice Geeraerts to the MFA. (Accession Date: January 11, 1951)
NOTES:
[1] According to a statement from Allen’s great-granddaughter, Harriet Robeson (May 28, 1957), family tradition was that this cupboard was among a group of furnishings purchased by Allen when the contents of the Hancock House were sold.
NOTES:
[1] According to a statement from Allen’s great-granddaughter, Harriet Robeson (May 28, 1957), family tradition was that this cupboard was among a group of furnishings purchased by Allen when the contents of the Hancock House were sold.