There was a bedside stand on either side, a desk and a seating area flanking the windows, and — to the left of the television — a glossy cellarette.
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Contemporary cellarette, built in 2009 Mission style cellarette, built in 2007 de Young's International Arts & Crafts exhibition Antique cellarette - "sarcophagus" style located at Lanier Mansion in Madison, In. Sideboard, Cellarette, and Painting Cleveland Museum of Art - Gallery 205 A cellarette or cellaret is a small furniture cabinet, available in various sizes, shapes, and designs which is used to store bottles of alcoholic beverages such as wine or whiskey. They usually come with some type of security such as a lock to protect the contents. Such wooden containers for alcoholic beverages appeared in Europe as early as the fifteenth century. They first appeared in America in the early eighteenth century and were popular through the nineteenth century.
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When the word cellarette is broken apart as "cellar-ette" it denotes a small piece of furniture used to store bottles of alcoholic beverages. It is associated with a food serving sideboard used in a formal dining room area of a home. Some sources say that the word "cellarette" came into use during the eighteenth century at the time of cabinetmaker George Hepplewhite. In Hepplewhite's 1794 The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Guide he demonstrates cellarettes as being octagonal and elliptical shaped with internal compartments for bottles of wine and liquor.
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Another type was a permanent piece of furniture built on a stand with a sliding shelf to hold glasses and a drawer for serving paraphernalia. They could be free standing or built into a "pedestal-end" dining room buffet serving sideboard. Normally a cellarette had a hinged door or hinged top cover. Frequently a lock was provided, to secure the contents from thieves.
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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. Cellarette use declined in the 20th century due to the use of the refrigerator.
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Since the end of the 20th century, there has been growth in industries relating to wine storage. Some wine connoisseurs may elect to store their wine at home in a dedicated room, closet or cellarette. Other options involve purchases and rentals at off-site wine storage facilities that are specifically designed for the task. Wine will prematurely develop if stored in an environment that has large temperature variations, particularly if these occur frequently.
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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. Prohibition in the United States brought about variations of trompe l'oeil cellarettes designed to conceal illegal alcoholic beverages. To the casual observer, the three dimensional trompe l'oeil artwork on these cellarettes made them appear to be an ordinary table, bookcase, or other piece of furniture.
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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.
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