Southern bottle cases

Magazine Antiques, August, 2004 by Anne S. McPherson

By the 1780s, the bottle case form had proliferated throughout northeastern North Carolina and southeastern Virginia. To explain the large numbers found in this region, numerous scholars have cited the writings of John Brickell (c. 1710-1745), a physician in Edenton, North Carolina, who described the consumption of considerable amounts of spirits by planters who came into town on business and the possession by the gentry of "plenty of Wine, Rum, and other Liquors at their own Houses, which they generously make use of amongst their Friends." (11)

Lightwood cock-beading distinguishes the North Carolina bottle case in Plate V, one of at least six examples with this feature, which is known to occur only on furniture from the Roanoke River basin of North Carolina and from Petersburg, Virginia. Another bottle case from the same shop has large inlaid initials adorning the top and front. (12)

Plate VI shows one of three bottle cases made by an unidentified North Carolina cabinetmaker known as "WH" because of the "WH" inlaid on five pieces from his shop, (13) although it does not appear on any of the three bottle cases attributed to him. (14) Neither of the other examples include the arched stretchers found on the bottle case illustrated here, but like it, they do have pierced spandrels and a slide that pulls out from the side rather than the front. The combination of neoclassical and rococo design elements on the bottle cases in Plates V and VI is typical of furniture made for members of conservative northeastern North Carolina society in the late eighteenth century. (15)

The pierced spandrels and tapered legs on the bottle case in Plate VIII represent another blending of rococo and neoclassical elements. The placement of a drawer handle on the front edge of the tea-chest-type lid is frequently seen on bottle cases from northeastern North Carolina. This one, however, has the same family history as two pieces of furniture attributed to Norfolk, Virginia, and thus it may have originated there rather than in North Carolina. If it is from North Carolina, it is the only recorded North Carolina bottle case other than those attributed to WH with slides on the side rather than the front. (16)

Tassel feet, like those on the bottle case in Plate VII, are rarely seen in American furniture and then only on pieces from southeastern Virginia and the New Bern area of northeastern North Carolina. Since there do not seem to be any bottle cases from the New Bern area, the one illustrated is probably from southeastern Virginia. (17)

The bottle cases in Plates IX and X document the westward movement of cabinetmakers and their patrons. Both have flat tops, a cost- and labor-saving alternative to the tea-chest tops of most of the preceding examples. A tea-chest top was a sophisticated and expensive option entailing the framing of the lid; London cabinetmakers charged an additional 1s 6d for this feature. (18) The case in Plate IX is believed to have been made in the Virginia Piedmont, and its vernacular inlay, probably made in the cabinetmaker's shop, contrasts with the detailed and probably imported inlays found on much southern coastal furniture. The case in Plate X is from either the southern Catawba Valley of the North Carolina Piedmont or the northern Piedmont of South Carolina. The inlaid satinwood panels in the stiles of the legs relate to work from Charleston, perhaps indicating the northern movement of a cabinetmaker from Charleston to an area settled by northeastern North Carolinians.