Whatnots, wine cooler or cellarets, tables and other furniture

Tables – night, and chamber pot holders

In the second half of the eighteenth century the night table was of quite sophisticated design and was included in Chippendale, Ince and Mayhew, and Sheraton's repertoire. Variously disguised as a small chest of drawers or in a more distinct tray-top form, these pieces display considerable ingenuity of craftsmanship. Later on the chest form was still used though the more obvious pot holder also made it appearance. As they are now technically obsolete, they have been adapted to a variety of modern uses according to the shape - drink cupboards, and hi-fi units for instance. If this has been done intelligently and the visible surfaces (when closed) have not been damaged, the value is enhanced rather than diminished – an almost unique situation in the antique world.

Whatnots

A whatnot is a term usually applied to a shelved piece of furniture for incidental use, with or without a drawer and either mobile (on castors) or fixed. Examples date from about 1800 and have the usual characteristic turned uprights with collars or ‘bamboo' double-collared designs. Later, like Canterburies, they exhibit Victorian features such as scrolled fretted carving, burr veneers and bulbous legs. A fitted drawer adds to the value, while a pair of large (preferably over 5ft) Georgian whatnots would command a very high price.

Wine coolers or cellarets 1790-1830

A cellaret, or wine cooler, was quite an important piece of furniture for those who had not yet acquired an Adam sideboard where the wine could be stored in a pedestal cupboard.

The wine cooler was the receptacle in which the wine was stored before use at the table – a sort of distribution stop between cellar and wine glass, but, more importantly, a means of cooling those wines which had to be served chilled. Certainly many of them have metal liners.

The wine cooler appears to have enjoyed a relatively brief and later Georgian boom after which the Victorians seem to have established, in their more commodious sideboards and cabinets, a means of keeping the wine from sight without a separate container.