Bottle Case

Practical and often elegant forms for the storage of liquor, bottle cases or cellarets were popular in the South and Mid-Atlantic regions in the 18th and 19th centuries. Although this example was found in Bath County, Virginia, other examples of mid-19th century joiner-made furniture with paneled sides are known from various regions of the southern Backcountry, including in Georgia and Alabama. A related bottle case was made about 1850 by Peter Lee, a formerly enslaved joiner in Marengo or Hale County, Alabama. Lee was enslaved by Capt. Henry Augustine Tayloe and may have been sent from a Tayloe family plantation in eastern Virginia to Alabama with other enslaved workers prior to gaining his freedom in the mid to late 1840s.

Bottles cases tyically have fixed, vertical dividers creating a grid into which the glass bottles would have been placed. Some, including this one, also have a few larger divisions for the storage of expensive foodstuffs such as sugar. Dark staining on the lower portion of the legs of this case indicate that the feet were likely placed in cups of liquid or cups with a moat of liquid (possibly turpentine) in order to deter insects from crawling up the legs and infesting the liquor and foodstuff in the case.
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