Appearing in Sheraton’s The Cabinet Dictionary (1803) the description for this plate takes inspiration from “ancient” French buffets. Although the modern sideboards “superceded” ancient china cabinets, Sheraton posits that “a buffet may, with some propriety, be restored to modern use, and prove ornamental to a breakfast room, answering as the repository of a tea equipage.” The metal rods and filigree were in brass and designed to hold candle branches near the fireplace of a breakfast room.
