Image of Gallery in South Kensington
Not currently on display at the V&A
On display at Tamworth Castle, Staffordshire

Cupboard

about 1500 (made)
Artist/Maker
Unknown
Place of origin
England (made)

"Livery cupboard. The sides and top are plain, the latter projecting beyond the front. The front has in the centre a hinged door, composed of one panel, grooved at the sides and with two square openings, one above the other, filled with geometrical tracery. The space above the door is occupied by a grooved panel. On each side of the door is a panel grooved like the door and having two upright openings filled with tracery, the square space between them being carved with four trefoils. The cupboard is fitted with two shelves, one across the centre, and the other, a half-shelf, above it. (It's legs, consisting of the prolongation of the ends, are missing.) The door hinges are not original and the lock has gone." Tracy


Object details

Category
Furniture
Object type
Cupboard
Materials and techniques
Oak, carved
Oak
Carving
Brief description
Food/dole cupboard, oak, English, c. 1500
Physical description
"Livery cupboard. The sides and top are plain, the latter projecting beyond the front. The front has in the centre a hinged door, composed of one panel, grooved at the sides and with two square openings, one above the other, filled with geometrical tracery. The space above the door is occupied by a grooved panel. On each side of the door is a panel grooved like the door and having two upright openings filled with tracery, the square space between them being carved with four trefoils. The cupboard is fitted with two shelves, one across the centre, and the other, a half-shelf, above it. (It's legs, consisting of the prolongation of the ends, are missing.) The door hinges are not original and the lock has gone." Tracy
Dimensions
  • Height: 66.5cm
  • On modern stand height: 86.5cm
  • Width: 97.5cm
  • Depth: 44cm
Credit line
Gift of Mr F.G. Hilton Price through Art Fund
Object history
Dole Cupboard, gift of Mr F.G. Hilton Price through NACF, 20/11/08 "lock and portions of tracery missing. Worm-eaten & generally damaged".

Shown at Tamworth on a low ply stand.

Notes from R.P. 1275/08 (should read AM1908/1275)

Storekeepers Form
Describes as "1. Gothic oak dole cupboard (much damaged and portions missing).

26/11/08 Lehfeldt Notes
"This oak dole cupboard or almery dates probably from about 1500. Though in a damaged condition & lacking unfortunately original iron hinges and lock, it is an interesting object that would be a valuable addition to English Galleries Woodwork, in which there is no such cupboard. A similar specimen is shown in Roe. Ancient coffers & cupboards p.101".

30/11 Director Skinner
recommends purchase: "this dole cupboard is an extremely interesting and rare specimen of English oak furniture of Gothic times. There is nothing like it in the Museum where it will form a most important addition to the collection of English furniture".

A late handwritten note on this file "cross ref. to Hilton Price file made……..(?)
….is there such a file?

Said to have come from Ivy Church, an old house at Alderbury, near Salisbury, formerly a monastery, now in ruins.
Historical context
Comparable pieces
Haddon Hall, Derbyshire (kitchen)
Bibliographic references
  • CESCINSKY, Herbert & Ernest Gribble: Early English Furniture & Woodwork. Vol.II. (London, 1922), fig. 37, p.26
  • Victor Chinnery, 'Clopton, Woodbridge, Suffolk', Antique Collecting, September 1976, pp.
  • Dictionary of English Furniture (Country Life 1924-7, 2nd rev. ed. 1954), Percy Macquoid and Ralph Edwards (1924-7), Cupboards, Food p. 185 fig. 4
  • Charles H. Hayward, Antique or Fake? (New York, 1981), p.111, where the cupboard is shown without the added feet.
  • Charles Tracy, English Medieval Furniture and Woodwork (London, 1988), cat. 315 'LIVERY CUPBOARD. The sides and top are plain, the latter projecting beyond the front. The front has in the centre a hinged door, composed of one panel, grooved at the sides and with two square openings, one above the other, filled with geometrical tracery. The space above the door is occupied by a grooved panel. On each side of the door is a panel grooved like the door and having two upright openings filled with tracery, the square space between them being carved with four trefoils. The cupboard is fitted with two shelves, one across the centre, and the other, a half a shelf, above it. (It’s legs, consisting of the prolongation of the ends, are missing). The door hinges are not original and the lock has gone (i>L.115). Given by Mr F. G. Hilton Price, F.S.A., through the National Art Collections Fund Oak. About 1500 9.80 x 45.8 x 64 cm Mus. No. 721-1908 Said to have come from Ivy Church, an old house at Alderbury, near Salisbury. A strong caveat should be entered with regard to the authenticity of this piece. It can be compared to the livery cupboard at St Donat’s Castle, Glamorgan (Fred Roe, Ancient Coffers and Cupboards, London, 1902, p.101) or the cupboards formerly belonging to Morgan Williams (Percy Macquoid, A History of English Furniture: Vol.1. The Age of Oak, London, 1904, FIGS. 2 & 3). The absence of original door hinges and feet leaves little by which to judge the object’s genuineness'.
  • Fred Roe, A History of Oak Furniture (London, 1920), plate XIX
  • Thomas W.Bagshawe, 'Open Cupboards', in Apollo April 1937, pp. 205-209
  • Percy Macquoid, (intro. David Beevers): A History of English Furniture, (Woodbridge, Suffolk, reprint: 1987). Vol.I The Age of Oak and the Age of Walnut, figures 2 & 3 'The earliest piece in the present exhibition is a late Gothic aumbry (figure 22) from Alderbury, three miles S.E. of Salisbury. It was found at Ivychurch Priory, now ruined, and may have originated locally or in Salisbury itself. The Priory, a 12th century foundation of the Augustinian Canons, was pulled down in 1888. The cupboard dates from c. 1510-40 , and belongs to the group once referred to by furniture-historians as #Post-Dissolution Gothic’. It is problematic as to whether the cupboard can have been made by the Priory, since the institution was dissolved by Henry VIII early in 1536. It is a crude piece, the product of a carpenter rather than a joiner, but its importance lies in the fact that genuine furniture of such early date is extremely rare. The construction is simple, consisting of quarter-sawn oak planks, pinned together with oak pegs, and pierced with traceried openings. The low form of the cupboard is difficult to account for without presuming some alteration, and it is probable that we have here the upper part of an originally taller cupboard. Herbert Cescinsky did not think it had been cut down, but I can see no such alternative (Cecinsky & Gribble: Early English Furniture & Woodwork, Vol II, p. 26). The lower portion must have been sawn off, perhaps because of damage by damp or pests. The original height was about 3ft. 10ins., with the usual shaped feet raising it from the floor.’
  • H. Clifford Smith, Catalogue of English Furniture & Woodwork. Vol II - Late Tudor and Early Stuart (London 1930), Pl 49.
Collection
Furniture and Woodwork Collection
Accession number
721-1908

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Record createdSeptember 24, 2008
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O167595/cupboard-unknown/
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