![]() Even when about 1780 sideboards were made with fitted cellarette cupboards, the available restricted space was supplemented by separate articles, and a particularly fine example, hooped with brass, partitioned, and lead-lined, is illustrated in Hepplewhite’s Guide. They were then usually fitted with castors. The earliest cellarettes were made in the late seventeenth century, but their popularity reached its peak in Georgian times, when they were designed to stand beneath the side tables that preceded sideboards. The available storage space, in shape octagonal, hexagonal, oval, round, or bombe was supplied with a shelf pierced with round holes or else divided into rectangular compartments, and more elaborate examples were fitted with provision for wine glasses in the lid, trays for glasses, and even spaces for decanters and punch bowls. It was furnished with a lid and almost invariably it had a lock and key, but it is important to remember that coolers also were sometimes lidded, although in that case they were often fitted with taps in order that the melted ice (from the ice-house) might be drawn off. ![]() The cellarette was intended as the name implies to hold a supplemental supply of wine, and was of course kept in the dining-room. There is often some confusion between the definitions of what is a wine cistern or cellarette and what is a wine cooler, particularly as they are often very similar in appearance. Then, as now, some wines had to be iced, some chilled, and some kept at room temperature, and wine coolers for these purposes were made in many beautiful styles and of many different materials. There were special tables, sideboards, and receptacles designed to ensure that liquor was both adequate in quantity and fit to drink. The period was one of hard drinking in which comfort and enjoyment were catered for in every possible way.
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