At Cardinal Wolsey’s entertainment to the French Ambassadors at Hampton Court, Cavendish relates: “There was a cupboard for the time in length of the breadth of the nether end of the same chamber, six desks high, full of gilt plate, very sumptuous and of the newest fashions; and upon the nethermost desk garnished all with plate of clean gold were two great candlesticks of silver and gilt most curiously wrought.” When the same Ambassadors were entertained by Henry VIII. at Greenwich, there was a “cupborde seven stages high and thirteen feet long, set with standing cuppes, bolles, flaggons and great pottles all of fine golde, some garnished with one stone, and some with other stones and pearles.”
When Queen Elizabeth was entertained at Hatfield House (the present seat of the Salisburies) in 1556, and there was a great and rich “maskinge in the great halle at Hatfield,” at night “the cupboard in the halle was of twelve stages, mainlie furnished with garnish of gold and silver vessels and a banket of seventie dishes, and after a voide of spices and suttleties, with thirtie spice plates, all at the charges of Sir Thomas Pope.”
PLATE X
A good example of a “court cupboard” with five degrees of stages ornamented with plate is shown in a picture printed in Laurea Austriaca (Frankfort, 1627), representing an entertainment given by King James I. of England to the Spanish Ambassadors during the negotiations for the marriage of the Prince of Wales to the Infanta of Spain. The stages rest upon a frame of turned baluster legs connected by straining-rails. Below the first stage there is a drawer. The “carpets” hang over the front of the cupboard instead of over the sides, as was more usual. This picture would seem to prove that an ordinary side table of the period might be converted into a court cupboard by simply placing the requisite number of shelves above it. However, in the inventory of Sir Thomas Kytson (1603) the following occurs: “At ye Great Chamber Dore one little joined boarde wt a fast frame to it, to sett on glassis. Itm, a thing like stayres to set plate on.”
In the early days, before the “livery cupboard” was brought from behind the screen into the hall, the “court cupboard” was removed from the lower end of the hall. The “livery cupboard” took its place. The “court cupboard” was then placed on the daïs, at the “Lord’s borde end,” or in a recess at the back of the high table. Sometimes it was placed in front of the bay window at the end of the daïs, where it acted as a kind of screen.
The “livery cupboard” was not only used for service, but for “liveries” of food and drink, served at night and in between meals. Smaller livery cupboards were sometimes found in the bedrooms, and these were usually furnished with doors and locks. As food was kept in them, the panels are frequently perforated for the sake of ventilation.
Occasionally, especially in later times, the uses of the “court” and “livery” cupboards were combined. Between these pieces of furniture, one difference long existed: a portion of the court cupboard was enclosed at a very early period, while the livery cupboard remained with its open shelves.
If we may believe the old inventories, there were many varieties of the cupboard, or many names for it. We find cupboard and chest-of-drawers, great cupboard, table and cupboard, table-cupboard, livery cupboard, side cupboard, press cupboard, sideboard cupboard, half-headed cupboard, standing cupboard, “cort” cupboard, etc., etc.
