Illustration [67] shows a low French bedstead, found in Canada and owned by George Corbett, Esq., of Worcester. The bedstead is made of finely grained old walnut, the rounding top of the head and foot boards and the face of the large drawer under the footboard being veneered. This drawer may have been intended to use to keep blankets in. It has a little foot so that it remains firm when pulled out. At each side of the low bed is a carved shell, which slides out, showing a covered rest, perhaps for kneeling upon to pray. Both the head and foot boards are covered with canvas, which was probably, when the bedstead was new, about 1830, covered with a rich brocade. All the lines of the bedstead are most graceful, and the carving is unusually well done. Plainer bedsteads in this style were made, veneered with mahogany, and they are sometimes called sleigh beds, on account of their shape. These bedsteads were fashionable from 1830 to 1850, when they were superseded by the black walnut bedsteads familiar to everybody.
CHAPTER IV
CUPBOARDS AND SIDEBOARDS
CUPBOARDS appear in English inventories as early as 1344. Persons of rank in England had their cupboards surmounted by a set of shelves to display the silver and gold plate. Each shelf was narrower than the one beneath, like a set of steps, and the number of shelves indicated the rank of the owner, five being the greatest number, to be used by the king only.
The first cupboard consisted of an open framework, a “borde” upon which to set cups, as the name implies. Later it was partially enclosed below, and this enclosed cupboard was used to hold valuables, or sometimes the food which was afterward distributed by the lady of the house. This was known as an almery or press cupboard, the former name corresponding to the French word armoire.
