George III Octagonal Form Mahogany & Brass Bound Cellarette Dry Bar Circa 1780

George III Octagonal Form Mahogany & Brass Bound Cellarette Circa 1780, With Side Brass Carrying Handles & Lion Mask Ring Handle To The Hinged Cover.
Ideal for a Dry Bar or Centre Piece for Entertaining.

Wood box containers as freestanding alcoholic beverage cabinets first appeared in Europe in the fifteenth century to hold and secure alcoholic beverages in public houses. Cellarettes first appeared in colonial America in the eighteenth century as a form of the European liquor cabinet. The main purpose of a liquor cabinet or cellarette was to secure wine and whiskey from theft as the bottles were hidden and the cabinet could have a lock.
During the American Revolutionary War and the Civil War army officers’ cellarettes often came with crystal decanters, shot glasses, pitchers, funnels, and drinking goblets. Eighteenth century cellarette designs were used into the twentieth century. Cellarettes of the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries were found in taverns and pubs and, in some cases, in the private homes of the elite.

Cellarettes in England and America were custom designed wooden chests to carry, transport and store small numbers of bottled alcoholic beverages. They were often made of fine decorative wood like mahogany, rosewood, or walnut and could be of various shapes and sizes. Cellarettes were generally associated with dining room furniture. Sometimes cellarettes were small portable pieces of furniture with handles that could be moved from room to room in a house.
In the late-18th and early-19th centuries, cellarettes were typically simple in design, following a Neoclassical aesthetic. Eventually, as Neoclassicism gave way to the more ostentatious Empire style, cellarettes became heavier and more ornate, emphasizing Roman and Grecian motifs. Some examples were made in the shape of sarcophagi mounted with lions’ heads and animal-paw feet

Dimensions: Height: 11.82 in (30 cm)Width: 18.9 in (48 cm)Depth: 18.9 in (48 cm)