ANTIQUE AMBRIES (AUMBREY, ALMERY, ARMOIRE)
An ambry is an enclosed compartment or recess in a wall or piece of furniture. The original sense of the term has been usurped by the word "cupboard", which originally had a different connotations. "Cuppbordes wyth ambries" are mentioned in inventories of Henry VIII's furniture.
Today the word aumbrey etc. is often used architecturally and ecclesiastically, as in the doored compartments or recesses for the Reservation of the Blessed Sacriment. The French term armoire is often applied to large presses or press-cupboards.
Below are some examples of Ambries:
Walnut and pine ambry. Sold for $1400 in the USA
Antique oak ambry. Sold for £110 in the UK
The first image is of a Texas folk art painted walnut and pine Ambry, dated 1910, found in Lavaca County, Texas, an area settled by Germano-Czek immigrants, constructed of native Guadalupe Valley walnut, the cabinet of tabernacle form with a glazed door revealing a niche for votive figures, the door flanked by small enframed colored lithographs of the Virgin and Child hovering over a church in a mountainous landscape, the cresting with a trio of cruciform finials, the facade further embellished with cut metal flowering vines, h. 30-1/2", w. 20", d. 10-1/4".