Laudian Wall Cupboard

A Laudian wall cupboard, of small rectangular form, the front with a moulded arch framing an open recess, flanked by applied split turnings, surmounted by a projecting cornice; the sides plain; the back of vertical pit-sawn boards secured with wrought iron nails, with visible oxidation. The arch enriched with a central cusp and moulded spandrels, in the Laudian taste that consciously revived late-medieval Gothic motifs in the mid-17th century.Its small size suggests it was designed to hold and display a few glasses or small vessels. The style of the arch reflects the Laudian and early Restoration taste for ecclesiastical forms, which carried over into domestic joinery in London workshops of the period.