Antique Wine Cooler

A 19th Century floor standing wine cooler made from wood, with decorative gadrooning to the rim, panelled sides and with the original lead liner.

As this is quite a large cellarette, with the liner coming up quite high on the sides, this would be a later 19th century one as much earlier pieces were made to store shorter bottles of wine and the lead therefore didn't need to come up as high. Also as time went on, glass production produced taller bottles, meaning that wine coolers also became considerably deeper to accommodate them.

There is no evidence that this piece had a lid, and though throughout the 19th century, wine coolers continued to remain popular, with the new habit of drinking red wine at room temperature, this gave rise to the production of cellarettes without covers and they would simply be filled with ice and the bottles encased in such. Access was much easier without a heavy lid to lift up or off.

Also by the 19th century, England had been introduced to the much smaller wine coolers that you are probably familiar with when thinking of a wine cooler. These were made from silver and other metals that would take a single or just a few bottles and could be placed on a table at convenient intervals for guests to help themselves or to serve the individual or couple only. Easier to transport to the table and more convenient all round. They also became a part of the rich illustrious dining table settings and became hugely popular.

This piece is in overall very good condition, could still be used to fill with ice should you wish, but could also be used to display flowers and plants and act as a welcome to guests in a hallway, on a very large table and perhaps even house a small potted tree to bring the outside in.

It would also make a good wood or kindling container beside a fireplace as it's large enough to store a good amount.

A great survivor from a past era that will add a touch of the country house to your interior.