MISCELLANEOUS 337
Dower chests--Medicine chests--Old lacquer--The tool chest--Egyptian
curios--Ancient spectacles--Curious chinaware--Garden curios--The
mounting of curios--Obsolete household names.
INDEX 357
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
FIG.
1. OLD FIREPLACE, SHOWING SUSSEX BACK, ANDIRONS, AND TRIVET _Frontispiece_
PAGE
2. ANDIRONS WITH RATCHETS 27
3. ORNAMENTED CRESSET DOGS 27
4. TELESCOPIC RUSH AND CANDLE HOLDER 27
5. RATCHET RUSH AND CANDLE HOLDER 27
6. ANCIENT ROMAN FIRE-DOG 37
7. SUSSEX GRATE BACK, DATED 1588 37
8. THREE SINGLE DOGS OR ANDIRONS 45
9. PAIR OF DATED SUSSEX ANDIRONS (1625) 45
10. PAIR OF SUSSEX ANDIRONS 45
11. SUSSEX BACK WITH ROYAL EMBLEMS 51
12. SUSSEX BACK WITH ARMS AND ROYAL INITIALS 51
13. FINE CARVED WALNUT WOOD BELLOWS 55
14. THREE RUSHLIGHT HOLDERS 63
15. THREE VARIETIES OF OLD OIL LAMPS 63
16. TWO WALNUT WOOD FLOOR-CANDLESTICKS 69
17. FINE PAIR OF ANCIENT SNUFFERS 73
18. HANDSOMELY DECORATED KNIFE CASE AND CONTENTS 81
19. KNIFE, FORK, AND SPOON 87
20. PAIR OF DECORATED SPOONS 93
21. TWO WOODEN CUPS 101
22. WOODEN FLAGON, WITH COPPER BANDS 101
23. A COCOANUT CUP (SILVER-MOUNTED) 101
24. A COCOANUT CUP (SILVER-MOUNTED) 101
25. COCOANUT FLAGON 101
26. EARLY ENGLISH BRONZE EWER 109
27. INSCRIBED SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY WOOD DRINKING CUP 115
28-30. EARLY CARVED WOOD NUTCRACKERS 115
31-34. MEDIAEVAL WOOD NUTCRACKERS 119
35-39. EARLY STEEL AND BRASS NUTCRACKERS 119
40. TWO ANTIQUE WARMING PANS 124
41. WELSH KITCHEN FIREPLACE 124
42. MECHANICAL ROASTING JACKS 127
43-46. GRIDIRONS SHOWING FOREIGN INFLUENCE IN DESIGN 131
47 AND 48. TWO WOODEN FOOD BOXES 135
49. A COLLECTION OF IRON FAT BOATS AND GREASE PANS 135
50. WOODEN COFFEE CRUSHERS AND PESTLES AND MORTAR 139
51. APPLE SCOOPS OF BONE 139
52. WOODEN PIGGINS AND PORRIDGE BOWL 143
53. WOODEN PLATTER, BOWL, AND SPOONS 143
54. BRASS CHIMNEY ORNAMENT (ONE OF A PAIR) 151
55. BLACK AND GOLD DERBYSHIRE MARBLE VASE 155
56. TEMPLE GUARDIAN, CARVED FROM THE GNARLED ROOT OF A TREE 159
57. CARVED PLAQUE STAND 163
58 AND 59. MINIATURE COPPER AND SILVER KETTLES 167
60. MINIATURE IVORY COFFEE BOILER 167
61. TWO OLD-GILT JEWELLED ORNAMENTS 167
62. THREE FINE OLD IVORIES 171
63. BATTERSEA ENAMELS 179
64. ANTIQUE DRESSING OR TOILET GLASS 202
65. THREE OLD SCRATCHBACKS 209
66. SILVER CHATELAINE TOILET INSTRUMENTS 209
67. ANOTHER CHATELAINE SET 209
68. FINE ORIENTAL LACQUERED BOX 217
69. SMALL LACQUER CABINET 217
70. A PAGODA-SHAPED CASKET 217
71. DECORATED JEWEL CASE 217
72. OLD SPINNING WHEEL 227
73. SPINNING WHEEL 233
74. OLD LACE BOBBINS 233
75. OLD PIN POPPETS AND ANCIENT PINS 237
76. THREE OLD WORKBOXES 243
77. OLD WORKBOX FITTINGS 247
78. ANCIENT CLOG ALMANAC 257
79. OLD COIN TESTER 265
80. MINIATURE SOUVENIR ALMANAC 265
81. ANCIENT WRITING SET 265
82. THREE CURIOUS PIPE-STOPPERS 275
83. BRASS TOBACCO BOX 275
84. COLLECTION OF HARNESS AMULETS AND TEAM BELLS 285
85. OLD WELSH LOVE SPOONS 291
86. FINE GOTHIC FRENCH CLOCK 299
87. SPECIMENS OF OLD WATCH KEYS 303
88. TWO ANTIQUE WATCH CASES 303
89. OLD SPINET 315
90. CURIOUS TYPES OF WHISTLES 323
91. QUAINT OLD TOY 323
92. A POWDER TESTER 335
93. A PRIMING FLASK 335
94. OLD POWDER FLASKS 343
I
THE LOVE OF THE ANTIQUE
CHAPTER I
THE LOVE OF THE ANTIQUE
No place like home--Curios in the making--The influence of
prevailing styles--A cultivated taste.
There is an inborn love of the antique in most men, although some are
fond of asserting that their interests are bound up in the modern, and
that they have no time to devote to the study of the antiquities of past
ages or the things that were fashionable in times long past. Yet most
people, when their secret longings are analysed, are found to have an
admiration for the old; if not a superstitious veneration, at any rate a
desire to perpetuate the memory of their ancestors and to keep in mind
the things with which they were familiar. The wealthy man of to-day, who
may have sprung from the people, secretly, if not openly, endeavours to
surround himself with household gods which tell of a longer past and a
closer relationship with the well-to-do than he can legitimately claim.
In the pursuit of such things many a man has found his hobby; and there
are few men who do not find recreation and delight in a hobby of some
kind. Such interests outside their regular occupations broaden their
outlook and widen their knowledge. Some hobbies tend to lead to
specialization, and the specialist is apt to become warped and narrowed;
not so, however, the collector of household curios.
No Place Like Home.
It would be difficult to find greater delight than that which centres in
those things that concern the home and home life. The love of the old
homestead and the goods and chattels it contains is ingrained in the
breast of every Britisher; and although families become scattered and
some of their members find homes of their own beyond the seas, they find
the greatest delight in the objects with which they were familiar in
years gone by, and venerate the relics of former generations--the
household gods which have been handed on from father to son.
It is not the intrinsic value of the household curio that is its chief
charm; it is rather the knowledge that its long association with those
who have claimed its ownership from the time when it was "new" has made
it truly a family relic. These thoughts, being so deeply rooted in the
minds of most men and women, foster the love of household curios and
intensify the interest shown in their possession.
To all it is not given to own family relics; neither would they serve to
satiate the ambition of the true collector, although they might form the
nucleus of his collection. He seeks other treasures in the town and in
the country and wherever such things are offered for sale.
Curios in the Making.
The domestic habits of the people of this and other civilized countries
have been the outcome of a slow process of upbuilding. There has been no
sudden change; in all grades and under every different social condition,
at every period, the improvement of the furnishings of the home has been
one of gradual and, for the most part, steady progress.
There was a time when, beyond the bare furniture, tapestry hangings,
tools of the craftsmen, and weapons of the warrior, there were few
household goods of a portable nature. In mediaeval England the oak chest
was sufficient to contain the valuables of a large household; and very
often beyond a cabinet or sideboard or corner cupboard there were few
receptacles where anything of value could be safeguarded. The dower
chest, in which the bride brought to her husband household linen and her
stock of clothing, and in the wooden compartment in one corner of the
chest her jewels and coin of the realm--if she possessed any--was then a
prominent piece of furniture. The oak chest, rendered formidable with
its massive lock and bolts, opened with a ponderous key, was the chosen
receptacle in after-years as a treasure chest, and regarded as the
safest place in which to keep valuable documents and other property. In
the Public Record Office may be seen the old iron box in which the
Domesday Book was kept for many centuries. The old City Companies have
their treasure chests still; and boxes studded over with iron nails and
fitted with large hasps and locks are pointed out in many old houses as
passports to family standing.
The household curios which a collector seeks include objects of utility
and ornament. Many of them are associated with household work, and quite
a number of one-time kitchen and culinary utensils, as well as those
which were once cherished in the best parlour or withdrawing-room, are
found places among such curios. During the last few years domestic
architecture has passed through several stages of advancement. The stiff
and formal Georgian houses, the painful Victorian villas, and some of
the earlier attempts at architectural improvement have been swept away
to make room for modern replicas of still older styles which have been
revived or incorporated in the _nouvre_ art, which touches the home in
its architecture and internal decoration, as well as in its furnishings.
In modern dwellings the Elizabethan style has often been followed,
although modern conveniences have been incorporated. When furnishing
such houses with suitable replicas of the antique the householders of
the last quarter of a century have been unconsciously, perhaps,
fostering the love of household antiques and providing fitting homes for
their family curios.
The Day of the Curio Hunter.
This is admittedly the day of curio hunting, and those who specialize on
household curios have exceptional opportunities of displaying them to
better advantage than those who cared for such things in the past.
Perhaps it is because there were so few opportunities of arranging and
displaying household antiques during the last three-quarters of the
nineteenth century that many objects now treasured have been preserved
so fresh and kept in such excellent condition. The housewives of the
past generation were undoubtedly conservative in their retention of old
household goods, and it is to their careful preservation that so many
objects of interest, although perhaps fully a century old, come to the
collector in such perfect condition.
The patient labour expended by the amateur artist, the needleworker, and
the connoisseur of home art a generation or two ago has provided the
collector to-day with an exceptionally interesting class of curio, for
there is much to admire in amateur craftsmanship, and especially in the
handiwork of the needlewoman and the weaver and decorator of so many
beautiful textiles which have been preserved to us. Sentiment was strong
in the early nineteenth century, and among the love tokens of that day,
chiefly the work of amateurs, some very beautiful and unique curios were
produced. These, too, have come down to the collector of the twentieth
century, and help him to secure specimens representing every decade, so
that in a large collection, carefully selected, the slow and yet sure
progress made in the fine arts, and the improvement in the ornamental
surroundings in the home, is made clear. In each one of the different
groups into which household curios may be divided there are many
distinctive objects, all of which are in themselves interesting, but
when viewed in association with other things which have been used at
contemporary periods, or associated with the home life of persons
similarly situated, but dwelling in different localities, are doubly
interesting.
The Influence of Prevailing Styles.
In determining the origin of curios, and defining the periods during
which they have been made, it is useful to have at least a little
knowledge of the influence or character of the prevailing styles in the
countries of origin. French art has exercised a great influence upon the
productions of other nations; it has also been moulded by the curios and
other articles of foreign origin then being sold in France. Regal and
political influence have left their mark upon almost every period of
French art, and have had much to do with the contemporary art of other
nations, for France was for centuries a guide in most of the fine arts,
and especially in those things which tended towards decorative effect.
The furniture of France may be said to be an exponent of the country's
history, so great has been the connection between French art, controlled
by passing events, and its commercial products. It is said that the
State pageants of the Louis XIV period tended to raise the tone of the
work of French artisans and to encourage artists. That was a period of
great development, for in the year 1670 the famous tapestry factories
sprang into existence; and it must be admitted that the designing of
those wonderful textiles influenced the manufacturers of furniture and
smaller objects both in France and in other countries.
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--ANDIRONS WITH RATCHETS.
FIG. 3.--ORNAMENTED CRESSET DOGS.
FIG. 4.--TELESCOPIC RUSH AND CANDLE HOLDER.
FIG. 5.--RATCHET RUSH AND CANDLE HOLDER.]
Sir Christopher Wren is reputed to have been carried away by the
influence of the Louis XIV art. It was in that King's reign, too, that
Charles Boule perfected his veneers of tortoiseshell and fine brass
work. Buhl cabinets, fancy boxes, and many smaller objects found their
way into this country, and are now household curios. When Philip of
Orleans was Regent of France Boule introduced vermilion and gold-leaf as
the groundwork upon which to throw up the beauty of tortoiseshell, and
his designs became lavishly extravagant. Of these there are some
beautiful examples extant; one, a facsimile of a bureau made in Paris in
1769, so elaborate that its cost was reputed to have been about L20,000,
is to be seen in the Wallace Collection at Hertford House. In the reign
of Louis XV great encouragement was given to the importation of lacquer
work from China, influencing the creation of similar works in France;
and it was owing to his support that the Vernis Martin enamels or
varnishes were produced. Then came those beautiful paintings of
landscapes with which so many of the rarer household curios dating from
that period were ornamented.
The French style came over the Channel. Thus it was that French
influence, as shown in its art in which its political history was
reflected, permeated into the workshops of England. Then came the
popularity of the designs of the Adam Brothers and Sheraton. During the
Revolution in France art was at a standstill, but as soon as Napoleon
had established his Empire artistic France began again, and we see its
influence in the Empire ornament of furniture and curios. Perhaps one of
the most striking instances of change in style was that in our own
country when the Prince of Orange came over and William and Mary were
crowned King and Queen. Dutch influence on the art of Great Britain was
immediately seen, and in the curios of that period there is a remarkable
difference between those produced at that time, when Englishmen were
content to allow the art of another nation to dominate their work, and
those of an earlier date. Dutch marquetry is seen in cabinets and
smaller household antiques in the manufacture of which panels were
applicable. There was a change in design about the year 1695, just after
Mary died, the characteristic seaweed following the floral, as if the
very flowers had been banished after the Queen's death. The influence of
the King and of his successors was very noticeable in the style and
decoration of household goods; the history of this country at that time,
just as the history of France had been, was reflected in the art of its
craftsmen.
A Cultivated Taste.
The love of the antique is regarded by some as a cultivated taste. The
specialization upon any one branch of household curios may justly be
regarded as such, but surely not the regard, almost reverence, for
family relics, although they are but the common things of everyday life!
Their collection stimulates the connoisseur, and encourages him to fresh
exertions, and in that sense the habit of keeping a keen look out for
anything that may illumine previous researches or add greater lustre to
those things already secured, is gradually cultivated.
Household curios are not unassociated with the folklore of the district
where such objects have been made, or were commonly in use; and the very
names of many things, the uses of which are almost forgotten, are
suggestive of former occupations and older methods of practising
household economy and the preparation of food. It is common knowledge
that the purest old English is met with in the dialects of the
countryside, and oftentimes once household words, now lost in modern
speech, are found again when the old names or original purposes of the
curios remaining to us are discovered. The cultivation of a taste for
gathering together household antiques is much to be desired, and in the
pursuit of such knowledge there is great pleasure--and as the value of
genuine antiques is ever rising, some profit, too.
II
THE INGLE SIDE
CHAPTER II
THE INGLE SIDE
Fire-making appliances--Tinder boxes--The fireplace--Andirons
and fire-dogs--Sussex backs--Fireirons and fenders--Trivets and
stools--Bellows.
In winter the ingle side, or its equivalent in a modern house, appears
to be the chief centre of attraction. It was ever so; and to-day the
lessened necessity for crowding round the fire and sitting in the ingle
nook, owing to modern methods of distributing the heat, in no way
lessens the attraction which draws an Englishman to the fire. In the
United States of America stoves of various kinds are deemed good
substitutes, but in this country the open fire is preferred, and modern
scientific research aims at perfecting and improving existing accepted
methods of heating and warming rooms rather than of displacing them.
In the days when the earliest collectable curios of the ingle side were
being made by the village smith, and the local sculptor and mason were
preparing the chimney corner and the mantelpiece to surround the
fireplace, it was in front of the great open fire in the kitchen,
before which the large joints were roasted, that the retainers of the
baron and the landowner or lord of the manor assembled on winter nights.
It was around the fire which crackled on the hearth in the great hall
that the more favoured ones forgathered, and in the lesser homestead the
family drew up their chairs and found seats in the ingle nook, near the
fire, when snow was upon the ground, and frost and cold draughts made
them shiver in the houseplace.
The fireplace has its attractions still, and builders and architects
have designed many cosy corners within reach of the fire. The
furnishings of the hearth have become more decorative as times have
become more luxurious and art has gained the ascendant; and sometimes
their greater ornament has been at the sacrifice of utility, but the
root principles of construction as seen in the older grates and fire
appointments remain.
[Illustration: FIG. 6.--ANCIENT ROMAN FIRE-DOG.
(_In the National Museum at Naples._)]
[Illustration: FIG. 7.--SUSSEX GRATE BACK, DATED 1588.]
Fire-making Appliances.
It seems natural to inquire into the origin of the need of a fireplace,
and to do so we must go back to prehistoric times and trace the
discovery of fire-making apparatus, for without the means of lighting a
fire it is obvious that the grate would be useless. With the fire came
artificial light, the two great discoveries being perfected side by
side, sometimes the one gaining ground, at others the one that had
fallen behind shooting ahead as the result of some great discovery, or
the application of scientific principles not deemed of utility to the
one or the other as the case might be. The fire-making appliances
which were in use for the purpose of lighting fires were of course used
long before any scheme of artificial lighting--apart from the flames and
radiance from the fire. Professor Flinders Petrie, that great
investigator into the antiquities of the Ancients, tells us that
fire-making by friction has been found to exist in far-off times. It
would appear that the discovery of how to produce fire has been
accomplished independently by men living under very different conditions
and at all ages. The fire-making of the Ancients has been rediscovered
by primitive people in more recent days, although it is probable that
native races who until recently have been living apart from the great
world outside have moved slowly in their march of civilization, and have
been using the same methods as those first tried by their ancestors ages
ago. In the unrivalled collection of appliances got together by
Professor Petrie, there are fire drills from the Transvaal, bow drills
used by the Esquimaux, and fire ploughs from North Queensland. Lighting
fires must have been a slow and difficult task in the days when tinder
boxes were in request, for when Curfew rang and the _couvre de feu_ had
done its work there was no fire in which to thrust the torch, and the
entire process had to be gone over again when the fire had once more to
be kindled.
Tinder Boxes.
The tinder box, formerly a real necessary, was to be found in every
house, and in many instances, in the days before lucifer matches, it was
a desirable pocket companion. Tinder boxes were made of different
materials; some were of wood, others of iron or brass. They lent
themselves to ornamentation: thus some were engraved and quite artistic;
many of the more recent ones were made of tin, and on the covers were
decorative little scenes. The contents of the tinder boxes were of
course flint and steel and tinder (something very inflammable, such as
scorched linen), with a damper for extinguishing the smouldering fire
after a light had been obtained, or in later days by the sulphur-tipped
match applied to it. Among the varieties are what are termed pistol
tinder boxes, instruments which contained a small charge of gunpowder,
which, when fired, lighted the tinder. Tinder pouches or purses
containing flint and tinder having a piece of steel riveted on to the
edge of the purse or pouch were a common form. Those brought over from
Central Asia were frequently decorated with dragons and the swastika
symbol, in damascened work.
Many inventions were put forward by chemists before the perfecting of
the common match, the wax vesta, and the fusee. One of these was Berry's
apparatus, which he devised in the beginning of the nineteenth century,
calling it a "contrivance for lighting lamps in the dark." It consisted
of an acid bottle with a string by which a conical stopper could be
raised, and a chlorate match held against the stopper became ignited.
Match boxes are collectable, and collectors of fire-making and lighting
contrivances often include a few old matches. The lucifer match
consisted of sticks tipped with potassium chlorate and sugar, held
together with gum, igniting when touched with concentrated sulphuric
acid. They were invented in 1805, and by the year 1820 had quite taken
the place of tinder boxes. Various lighting pastes were used, until the
improvements which resulted in the "safety" matches. The dangerous
sulphur and white phosphorus have given place in modern match-making to
sesqui-sulphate mixtures; and wax vestas and other "strikers" have
superseded the curious objects the collector meets with.
The Fireplace.
In studying the curios of the fireplace, it is scarcely necessary to go
back beyond the grates and fire appointments which may be seen in the
old houses standing to-day. Even during the last generation or two there
have been many changes, and in rebuilding and refurnishing the
antiquities of the fireplace have in many instances been swept away.
During more recent days, however, there has been a greater appreciation
of the curio value of mantelpieces and old grates, and it is no uncommon
thing for hundreds and even thousands of pounds to be paid for rare
specimens.
In some instances the fireplace may truly be said to have been the
central attraction, for the old grates and mantelpieces have often
realized as much as the whole of the remainder of the materials secured
when an old house has been pulled down. Some of these mantelpieces of
olden time were magnificent memorials of the sculptor's and the carver's
art. They included overmantels, the entire breastwork of the chimney
often being covered with stone or marble or black oak, right up to the
ceiling or the cornice.
The open hearth was the earlier form of fireplace, and long before
chimneys were built logs of wood burned on it, and in still earlier
times in a basket or brazier, the smoke finding its way to the roof, the
rafters of which soon became blackened. Chimneys, however, are of early
date, and the household curios of the fireplace have almost entirely
been used under such conditions of fuel consumption, the up-draught of
the chimney carrying away the smoke and harmful gases. The firebacks and
the andirons, and later the fire-dogs, of the open fireplaces are
collectable curios of considerable interest, and the hobby may be
indulged in at a moderate cost. The collection of mantelpieces may be
left to the wealthy and to those who have baronial halls in which to
refix them. Fig. 1 represents an old fireplace in a panelled oak room
with a Tudor ceiling. There is a Sussex back of rather small size, and a
pair of andirons, on which a log of wood is shown reposing. An old
saucepan has been reared up in the corner, and there is a trivet on the
hearth. There is a very remarkable group of cresset dogs shown in Fig.
2. One pair of dogs or andirons has ratchets on which supplementary bars
were placed. These show an early advance from the simple andiron, and
point to the later developments of the fire-grate with the fast bars
which were to come. In the same group two rush-holders or candlesticks
are shown, one with a ratchet, the other adjusted on a simple rod, the
socket being held in place by a spring (see Figs. 4 and 5).
As time went on and change of fuel came about, the forests of England
being gradually consumed on the domestic hearth, coal was substituted
for the fast-vanishing wood. Then it was that a change was needed, and
instead of the open fireplace and the andirons on which the logs of wood
had formerly been laid, iron baskets or grates in which coal could be
placed were made, so that the scattering of fuel and cinders on the open
hearth could be prevented. Sussex backs gave place in time to the grate
in which a metal back was frequently incorporated, flanked by the dogs
in front. Then came the closed-in grates and the hob-registers of the
eighteenth century, many being designed after the beautiful
ornamentation produced by the Adam Brothers; also the decorative metal
work enriched with ormolu and brass, which in due course again gave way
to the plain and oftentimes ugly register grates of the Victorian Age,
which in more modern times have been displaced by the reproductions of
the antique, and by well-grates and scientifically constructed stoves
and heating radiators by which heat can be conserved, the draught of the
fire and the chimney regulated, and the coal burned more economically on
slow-combustion and semi-slow-combustion principles. Science has taught
builders and others how to radiate the heat, and prevent that waste
which formerly went up the chimney, so that the necessity to sit round
the fire is not as great as it once was, and rooms large and small are
more evenly heated. The fireplace has once more become a thing of
beauty, and all its appointments are rendered harmonious with the
furnishings of the home, whether they are modern replicas of the
homesteads of earlier periods or constructed according to the newer art
of the present day.
Andirons and Fire-dogs.
The brazier on a piece of stone in the centre of the room served well
when charcoal was plentiful, and although the smoke ascended amidst the
rafters the heat spread and there was plenty of room for many persons to
assemble "around" the fire. With chimneys built at the side of the house
for convenience, the timber was laid upon the hearth flag. Under the
conditions that appertained when great open chimneys allowed the rain
and snow to fall upon the fire or on the logs laid ready for the
burning, the difficulties of lighting a fire were experienced. Then the
local smith came to the aid of the "domestic" or serf, and hammered into
shape what were termed andirons, their use making it easier to light the
logs, giving a current of air under them, causing them to burn brighter.
The andirons were afterwards called fire-dogs, and in course of time
bars rested on hooks or ratchets, or were laid across the dogs.
[Illustration: FIG. 8.--THREE SINGLE DOGS OR ANDIRONS.]
[Illustration: FIG. 9.--PAIR OF DATED SUSSEX ANDIRONS (1625).
FIG. 10.--PAIR OF SUSSEX ANDIRONS.
(_In the collection of Mr. Wayte, of Edenbridge._)]
There are no records of the earliest inventors of andirons or dogs. It
is quite clear that small fire-dogs were in use in Rome at an early
period; the one illustrated in Fig. 6, measuring 6 3/4 in. in height, of
artistic form, two draped figures being the supports of the arch, is in
the National Museum in Naples, where there are many other beautiful
examples of early Roman metal work. In the seventeenth century some of
the more elaborate ornamental cast brass fire-dogs were enriched with
black and white or blue and white enamel, several varieties of fireside
ornaments being decorated in the same way.
Enamel thus applied to metal is exceptionally valuable, as much as two
hundred guineas being paid for an enamelled pair of fire-dogs. It is the
ordinary forms of cast or wrought dogs with which collectors are mostly
familiar, especially those made in the famous Sussex ironfields, such as
those shown in Figs. 8, 9, and 10, which are of early date, the pair
illustrated in Fig. 9 being dated 1625, the others probably
contemporary. Single examples of similar designs are shown in Fig. 8.
The need of the metal furnishings of the hearth--as the chimney places
of the smaller manor houses and the dwellings of the traders were being
erected--caused an impetus to the trade of the ironfounder and smith,
and the founders and smiths of the Sussex villages came to the aid of
the builder. There are dated examples from the sixteenth century
onwards, recording the periods when these interesting souvenirs of
domestic building and the great Sussex ironfields--now deserted--were in
operation.
Sussex Backs.
There is a peculiar attraction about the castings made in Sussex in the
days when the foundries of that county were in full work, and many
villages were filled with busy pattern-makers, moulders, and founders
carrying on a thriving industry in districts which have now been given
up to the plough; for the Sussex ironfields have been abandoned, as when
the timber of the district was consumed it was impossible to work the
forges economically, for coal was far distant and transport costs
prohibitive. The old grate backs for which the Sussex foundries were
famous in the seventeenth century were often modelled on Dutch designs,
and some showed German characteristics. There are many noted English
designs, too, mostly taking the forms of coats of arms and the shields
and crests of the landlords for whom the stove-plates were made, some
becoming "stock" patterns and often duplicated. There is quite a fine
collection of these grate backs in several museums, and some good
examples can still be bought from dealers whose agents secure them from
time to time when property is being rebuilt. In the Victoria and Albert
Museum there is a long oblong plate on which is cast the arms of Browne
of Brenchley, in Kent, probably made in the second half of the
seventeenth century. There are others with cherubs and curious
supporters of shields of arms. A still earlier piece, probably cast
about the year 1600, is an oblong Sussex back deeply recessed, on which
is the arms of John Blount, Earl of Devonshire, another bearing the
Royal arms of the Tudor period. In Hampton Court Palace there are some
especially fine grate backs, mostly bearing the Royal arms. At a little
earlier period the cast grate backs were chiefly plain with isolated
crests or designs scattered over the surface, often quite irregularly.
The three fine examples of Sussex backs illustrated are typical of
popular styles. Fig. 11 shows the Royal lion of England, accompanied by
the emblems appearing on the Royal arms in the seventeenth century; the
Tudor rose crowned, the Scottish thistle, and the French fleur-de-lis
indicative of the throne of France to which English sovereigns then laid
some claim. The date of this fine back is 1649. Fig. 7 is of an earlier
period, being dated 1588, beneath which are the initials "I.F.C." There
are also roses and fleurs-de-lis, as well as anchors and other emblems.
The back shown in Fig. 12 has for its design the Royal arms surrounded
by the Garter, and the initials "C.R.," a design which was duplicated
very extensively soon after the Restoration. It will be noticed that the
Royal arms formed the design of the Sussex back shown in position in
Fig. 1. Some of the German and Dutch designs are very curious, many of
them representing scriptural subjects, like Moses and the brazen
serpent; the death of Absalom; the temptation of Joseph; and the
often-repeated story of the Garden of Eden.
In the American museums there are some very interesting examples of
foundry work; some of the cast backs, evidently modelled on German or
Dutch designs, take the form of stove-plates, including both front and
side plates, mostly bearing dates in the middle of the eighteenth
century. Pennsylvania was the chief district in which these plates were
made, some being cast by William Siegel, who went to America from
Germany in 1758, and erected what was known as the Berkshire furnace. A
curious early stove-plate in an American collection, dated 1736, has
upon it a scene known as "the dance after the wedding." It is said to
have been used in the front of what was known as the German wall-warming
stove.
In form the Sussex shape is usually rectangular--that is, wider than its
height. It would appear as if the back was at first moulded from a
wooden plate, the crest, initials, or design being then impressed by
movable moulds or stamps, generally of wood. These were irregularly
placed, consequently crowns, roses, crosses, family badges, and all
kinds of emblems were dotted promiscuously over the plate. Some of the
plain plates with cable-twist borders were probably used as hearthstones
and not as backs. The styles which were gradually developed were chiefly
on the same lines as those which became popular in France. Their use
lingered long in that country for until recently in many an old family
mansion might have been seen a _plaque de cheminee_, on which was the
coat of arms and supporters of the original owner of the chateau, and
sometimes of the kings of France. The Sussex ironfounders worked chiefly
at Cowden, Hawkhurst, and Lamberhurst, and there were forges at
Cranbrook, Coudhurst, Tonbridge, and Biddenden. The principal
ironmasters of Kent were the Knights and the Tichbornes, whose
descendants became baronets.
"Life is not as idle ore,
But iron dug from central gloom,
And heated hot with burning fears,
And dipped in baths of hissing tears,
And battered with the shocks of doom
To shape and use."
TENNYSON, _In Memoriam_.
[Illustration: FIG. 11.--SUSSEX BACK WITH ROYAL EMBLEMS.]
[Illustration: FIG. 12.--SUSSEX BACK WITH ARMS AND ROYAL INITIALS.
(_In the collection of Mr. Wayte, of Edenbridge._)]
Fireirons and Fenders.
Fire brasses or fireirons came into vogue with grates, although the sets
now regarded as old fire brasses, some of which are very elaborate and
massive, made at the beginning of the nineteenth century, were first
used when fenders came into vogue; instead of being reared up alongside
the fire-dogs in the chimney corner they rested on the fenders. There is
not much to distinguish the variations in fireirons except the obvious
indications of older workmanship and design, when contrasted with modern
"irons." The shovel pans gave the artist in metal some opportunity for
showing his skill in design and perforated work. It is probable that the
earliest form of shovel was that known as the "slide," its use being to
shovel up the ashes of a wood fire, an operation necessary more
frequently then than in modern days when coal has been the principal
fuel consumed. Some of the older specimens are dated, and bear the
owner's initials; thus one authentic specimen from Shopnoller, in the
Quantock Hills, is engraved, "I T. 1784." Many of the Dutch metal
workers produced very beautiful and decorative stands on which miniature
sets of rich brasses were hung; some of the old English fireside stands
were arranged as receptacles for tongs, shovel, and brush, and now and
then the baluster stem supported by a tripod base had a central
attachment from which a toddy kettle could be slung. The brass toddy
kettle formerly stood upon the hob of the grate, singing merrily, always
ready for the cup of tea which "cheers but not inebriates," or, as was
frequently the case, for the preparation of hot toddy or spirit.
The evolution of the fender forms a pleasing story in connection with
the ingle side. Perhaps the earlier form likely to interest collectors
of household curios is that made of perforated brass, often some 8 in.
or 10 in. in depth. These fenders standing on claw feet were afterwards
fitted with bottom plates of iron, on which was a ridge or rest against
which the fire brasses were prevented from slipping. Then came iron or
steel scroll-shaped fenders, tapering down from a few inches in height
at the ends to centres almost level with the ground. To obviate the
inconvenience of there being no resting-place for the fireirons loose
supports were fitted into sockets at the ends, and these afterwards were
cast as part of the scroll. Then came the stiff and formal early
Victorian metal work--iron fenders with steel tops relieved occasionally
by ormolu ornament. These in their turn gave way to fender kerbs of
metal, stone, marble, or tiles, and loose ornamented fire-dogs which
have in more recent times served as rests for the fire brasses.
Trivets and Stools.
Combination appliances were early adopted, although we are apt at times
to associate combined utensils with modern innovations. The old English
trivet of wrought iron made in the eighteenth century was frequently
"improved" by the addition of a toasting fork, which could be adjusted
and set at certain angles so that the toast could be left in front of
the fire for a few moments until it was quite ready to be taken off and
put on a plate standing conveniently on the trivet until the dish or
rack of toast was complete. (Some scarce trivets are illustrated in
"Chats on Old Copper and Brass.")
[Illustration: FIG. 13.--FINE CARVED WALNUT WOOD BELLOWS.
(_In the Victoria and Albert Museum._)]
Bellows.
The Germans were noted for the manufacture of decorative bellows cut and
carved in quaint designs, some of the finest examples being made in the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Others were made in Holland, some
of the Dutch bellows being inlaid with mother-o'-pearl. There are also
examples of old English carving, the style of the ornament taking the
form of the designs on contemporary oak furniture. Some of the largest
and handsomest bellows of English make are of late seventeenth-century
workmanship. The example illustrated in Fig. 13 is a magnificent
specimen, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum at South Kensington.
III
THE LIGHTS OF FORMER DAYS
CHAPTER III
THE LIGHTS OF FORMER DAYS
Rushlights and holders--Candles, moulds, and boxes--Snuffers,
trays, and extinguishers--Oil lamps--Lanterns.
Household lighting has been one continuous effort to render the hours of
darkness bright, and to provide by artificial means a luminosity which
would, if not actually rivalling the sun, enable men to carry on their
usual avocations with the same ease, convenience, and comfort after
daylight had disappeared as during the earlier portion of the day. Every
stage which has been advanced in artificial lighting has been welcomed
in the home just as much as in the factory and in the workshop, for
there are many daily duties as well as pleasures and amusements which
are carried out much more satisfactorily when a good light is available
than when there are shadows and dark corners only dimly lighted.
To realize what artificial lighting was in the days now happily long
past, it would be necessary to visit some old-world village, if one
could be found, where there had been no attempt at street lighting, and
in which not even oil had penetrated. The candles of very early times
did not give more than a dim glimmer, and the darkness of mediaeval
England can be imagined from the primitive lighting appliances which are
preserved. Fortunately the entire story of lighting as science came to
the aid of trader and householder is revealed in the lights of former
days, which as time went on became more varied and numerous, found in
collections of well-authenticated specimens. The suggested caution
implied is not unnecessary, for the periods overlap, and there is but
little to show when such things as lamps and lanterns were actually
made.
Rushlights and Holders.
In tracing the development of lighting from quite homely beginnings,
rushlights, prepared by the cottager and the farm hand for the winter
supply, seem to come first on the list. Rushlights, however, were used
in this country by many until comparatively recent times side by side
with lights much more advanced. But centuries earlier than we have any
record of artificial lighting in this country, and equally as long
before any of the earliest British curios of lighting were used,
lighting engineers, if we may so call them, in Greece, Rome, Egypt, and
still earlier in other Eastern countries, were far advanced. None of the
lighting schemes of the Ancients, however, produced much more than the
dim light of the swinging lamp in which oil was consumed.
[Illustration: FIG. 14.--THREE RUSHLIGHT HOLDERS.
(_In the National Museum of Wales, Cardiff._)]
[Illustration: FIG. 15.--THREE VARIETIES OF OLD OIL LAMPS.]
To range side by side a number of rushlight holders taken from districts
widely apart, it becomes evident that there was a striking similarity
between the earlier types. The smiths everywhere seem to have
fashioned a simple contrivance by which the rushlight or early candle
could be held upright, and then, to give the "stick" solidity, the iron
shaft was fastened securely into a wooden block, which was very often
quite out of proportion to the size and weight of the stand, and
apparently unnecessarily large and heavy. In the larger examples the
holder is often made to slide upon an upright rod so as to be useful at
different heights. The sliding rod was needed, for the light so dim
could only be of real service when quite close to the person using it,
or to the work it was intended to illumine (see Figs. 4 and 5).
Although some of the more elaborate and advanced holders were of copper
or brass, most of them were of iron, the work of local smiths, few of
whom made any attempt to decorate what they evidently regarded as
strictly utilitarian articles (see Fig. 14). Although rushlights
antedated candles, some of the holders were made to answer a dual
purpose, and on the same stem or slide as the rushlight holder there was
a candle socket, an important feature fully exemplified in Figs. 4 and
5.
Candles, Moulds, and Boxes.
The collector of household curios does not trouble about the candles;
his object is to secure a few candle moulds, candle boxes, and, of
course, candlesticks. It may, however, be convenient here to refer to
the moulding of candles which was at one time a domestic duty just as it
had been to collect rushes and after they were dried dip them in fat,
and to make lights which would burn with more or less steadiness.
The candles were made from various fats, much of which was accumulated
in the kitchen during the processes of cooking, supplemented by other
ingredients deemed best for the purpose. The candle moulds or tubes in
which wicks were inserted were of varying capacities and ranged from two
to a dozen or more. The moulds were dipped in troughs of fat, having
been heated sufficiently to melt the fat. The process was by no means
new, in that it was used in this country by the Saxons; and at a still
earlier period candles were made by the Romans, for among the sundry
objects picked up among the uncovered ruins of Herculaneum have been
small pieces of candle ends.
There was but little advance in the art of candle-making, for the
candle, briefly described as a rod of solidified tallow or wax
surrounding a wick, remained almost unimproved until the eighteenth
century, when spermaceti was introduced, and in more recent years
paraffin has been substituted.
Candles were hung up by their wicks in bunches until required for use,
but those needed for immediate supply were always kept in candle boxes.
It is these boxes of copper, brass, and tin which are sought after. The
decorated japanned tin boxes are very pleasing, and some of the best,
ornamented after the "Chinese style" or painted with little scenes, and
rich in gold ornament, especially those made with other japanned wares
at Pontypool in South Wales, are desirable acquisitions.
Of the varieties of candlesticks there is no end. The two great
divisions are the pillar or table candlesticks, and the chamber
candlesticks. The first named are chiefly seen with a small socket and
flange to catch the running tallow, the last mentioned have larger
dishes which catch the drips from candles which are being carried about.
Among the varieties are the earliest form of pricket candlestick on
which the candle was "stuck," the bell candlesticks, and the
candlesticks which were fixed on brackets against the wall. As time went
on varied materials were introduced, and ornament was chiefly in accord
with prevailing styles, which influenced the maker of candlesticks as
all other metal work. Iron, copper, brass, pewter, silver, and Britannia
metal and wood have been used, and many of the handsomest chandeliers
and brackets are those made of lustres and cut glass. The large
chandeliers hung a century or two ago at great expense in the centre of
large rooms have frequently been retained, and gas and electric light
have been introduced instead of candles. In Fig. 16 we illustrate two
exceedingly well-preserved old walnut floor-candlesticks, with brass
sconces. They come from the Sister Isle, where there are still curios to
be met with.
Snuffers, Trays, and Extinguishers.
There were difficulties to contend with in the use of candles, chiefly
on account of the irregular burning of candles when exposed to the
slightest draught, and to the imperfect combustion, which left a charred
piece of wick which it was necessary to remove to make the candle burn
once more. Then, again, the extinction of a burning candle involved some
skill, and instruments were devised to effect this without causing
unpleasant odours or smoke to arise. Previous to the use of lanterns out
of doors, and oftentimes when halls and corridors were imperfectly
lighted, torches thrust into the open fire and thus lighted were used.
Extinguishers of iron were frequently erected near an outside door, or
added to the iron railings outside the house. These were for the purpose
of extinguishing links--many such are to be seen still outside old
London houses. They were the prototypes from which originated the
ordinary form of chamber candle extinguisher, frequently fastened to the
"stick" by a chain.
The extinguishers used in the early days of candles are known now as
snuffer-extinguishers, to distinguish them from snuffers (the old name
was _doubters_). In form they were not unlike scissors; the two circular
metal plates of which they were formed closed in and compressed the
wick, thereby extinguishing the light. The earlier snuffers had very
large boxes, and some were remarkably handsome, an exceptionally fine
example being shown in Fig. 17. They were discovered in an old house at
Corton, in Dorset, in 1768, and were described by a writer towards the
close of the eighteenth century thus: "They are of brass and weigh about
6 ounces. Their construction consists of two equilateral cavities, by
the edges of which the snuff is cut off and received into the cavity
from which it is not got out without much trouble." Snuffers of iron,
and later of steel, are the commoner forms, but they are frequently
of brass and of silver and Sheffield plate.
[Illustration: FIG. 16.--TWO WALNUT WOOD FLOOR-CANDLESTICKS.
(_In the collection of W. Egan & Sons, Ltd., of Cork._)]
The need of some convenient tray or receptacle for the snuffers, not
always over-clean when they had been used a few times, was met at first
by what are known as snuffer stands made of wrought metal, and often
very ornamental. Then came the oblong tray of convenient shape,
following in its decoration and ornament prevailing styles in other
domestic tin or metal work. In this connection it should be pointed out
that there are many varieties of taper holders and stands used for the
small wax tapers, then common on the writing table.
Oil Lamps.
Although oil had long been a recognized illuminant from which a good
artificial light could be obtained, it was not until the eighteenth
century that any marked attempt was made to substitute oil for candles
in this country. For really beautiful lamps we have to go back to the
bronze lamps of ancient Greece and Rome, and the terra-cotta lamps of
the early Christians, many of which were exceedingly interesting.
Householders in England, and in America, too, preferred the beautiful
silver candlesticks and those charming and artistic scrolls which once
decorated the walls of the houses of the well-to-do. There came a time,
however, when oil lamps were reinstated, and although candles still held
sway and were difficult to displace, inventors and makers of oil lamps
began to compete for the lighting industry. The three old lamps now in
the Cardiff Museum, shown in Fig. 15, must be classed among the commoner
types of early lamps, once plentiful in farmhouses and cottages.
The lamp used on the table in Victorian days was the moderator lamp, the
principle of which was a spring forcing the oil up through the
burner--but such lamps have no claim upon the curio hunter either for
beauty of form or rarity of material. These lamps, which burned colza or
seed oil, were superseded in time by paraffin and petroleum lamps. Now
and then some wonderful invention flashed across the scene, but although
various modern improved burners have come and gone, the lamp, excepting
for purposes of ornament and decorative effect, has given way to coal
gas and, in more modern times, to electric lighting. There are few
household curios of any value associated with oil lighting, and as yet
gas is too new!
Lanterns.
The portable lantern made of iron and tin and glazed with horn was long
an indispensable feature in every household. Horn lanterns were carried
about everywhere in the days before street lighting was general, and to
some extent they are needed in country districts to-day. There is a
remarkable similarity between the modern glass lanterns of circular type
and the old watchman's lanterns of a couple of centuries ago. The same
design seems to have served the purpose through many generations, and to
have been duplicated again and again. Among the ancient lanterns are
some in which candles have been burned, and others where the candle
socket has been utilized for the insertion of a socket oil lamp. In more
modern times the horn has given place to glass. The carriage lamps of
former days served their purposes well, and although some are certainly
antique, they are by no means desirable curios. The light they gave when
driving through a country lane was indeed a dim flicker compared with
the powerful arcs of the modern motor-car.
[Illustration: FIG. 17.--FINE PAIR OF ANCIENT SNUFFERS.]
The beacon fire is no longer seen on housetops, neither is the lantern
in the yard and the vestibule furnished with a candle; but curiously
enough, even in the most modern appointed houses, so great is the love
for the antique in the furnishings of to-day, that beautifully modelled
little replicas of the old horn lanterns are hung in entrance halls and
passages--but instead of the candle there is the electric bulb!
IV
TABLE APPOINTMENTS
CHAPTER IV
TABLE APPOINTMENTS
Cutlery: Knives, forks, and spoons--Salt cellars--Cruet
stands--Punch and toddy--Porringers and cups--Trays and
waiters--The tea table--Cream jugs--Sugar tongs and
nippers--Caddies--Cupids--Nutcrackers--Turned woodware.
It is very difficult to realize in these days of refinement and of
comparative luxury, even in the homes of the working classes, what the
table appointments must have been in early English homes. Sometimes
glowing accounts are given of the feasting of olden time; but no doubt
many of the great occasions contrasted in their luxurious magnificence
with the usual mode of living. They were, however, the days of feeding
rather than of refinement in partaking of the sumptuous feast. The table
appointments on such occasions were crude and simple, and they were
altogether absent from the tables of the lower classes. It is difficult,
indeed, to realize that the conditions under which people lived in
mediaeval England, in the days when the baron and his followers assembled
in the great hall, and with his chosen companions sat above the salt,
satisfied men of wealth; it was, however, in accord with the spirit of
the age.
The primitive methods of serving up food and eating it observed by the
majority of people then would be looked upon with disgust nowadays by
every one. The table appointments were not only very few, but those
which were used, like the knife and spoon, were often brought into the
feasting hall by those who were to use them. The polished oaken board
was often laden with rough and readily prepared dishes, the result of
some fortunate expedition or of a prosperous hunt. The knife was the
chief implement used until comparatively recent days, for forks are
quite a modern innovation. The spoon, it is true, goes back to hoary
antiquity, but in England, even in the Middle Ages, spoons were used
chiefly for ecclesiastical purposes. In Harrison's _Elizabethan England_
we read that the times had changed, for instead of "treen platters"
there were pewter plates, and tin or silver spoons instead of wood.
Cutlery: Knives, Forks, and Spoons.
The term "cutlery," derived from _coutellerie_, the French for cutlery,
had been evolved from _culter_, the Latin for knife. Primarily it
referred to cutting instruments, and especially to knives, but in a
general way, when speaking of table cutlery, spoons and forks may
appropriately be included. Early records referring to cutlery
indiscriminately use the terms knives and swords; indeed, the arms
granted to the London Cutlers' Company in the sixteenth year of the
reign of Edward IV are two swords, crossed; later a crest, consisting
of an elephant bearing a castle, was added. Homer tells us of knives
carried at the girdle in his day, and describes them as of triangular
form. The Anglo-Saxons and the Normans carried about with them met-soex
or eating knives, but it was not until the end of the fifteenth century
that knives were used at table, other than those which were carried at
the girdle, every man using his own cutlery. In England, Sheffield was
early noted for the manufacture of knives, for Chaucer tells us, "A
Scheffeld thwitel bare he in his hose." Another form of spelling the
word which denoted knife was _troytel_, and from these terms is derived
"whittle." The jack knife came in in the days of James I, after whom it
was named, the original term being Jacques-te-leg, these knives shutting
into a groove or handle without spring or lock.
[Illustration: FIG. 18.--HANDSOMELY DECORATED KNIFE CASE AND CONTENTS.
(_In the Victoria and Albert Museum._)]
The making of a table knife even in early times necessitated the work of
many hands, for taking part in its production were the smiths who forged
it, the bladers who made the blade out of the metal already hammered,
and the haft-makers. When the knife was complete it was handed to the
sheath-makers, who fashioned the sheath of leather, and sometimes
encased it in metal. The host did not provide table cutlery for his
guests until the reign of Elizabeth. In earlier times it was left to the
traveller to provide himself with whatever he deemed necessary; thus it
is recorded that when Henry VI made a tour in the north he carried with
him knife, fork, and spoon, as it was stated "he scarcely expected to
find any at the houses of the nobility." From that custom, no doubt,
arose the common practice of fitting separate sets, and afterwards sets
for more than one person, in cases, the materials used being for many
years the beautifully embossed _cuir boulli_ leather work. Queen
Elizabeth carried her knife and other appointments at her girdle, a
custom followed by her ladies; although it is said that at the Court of
the virgin queen it was customary for the gentlemen courtiers to cut up
the meat on the platters of the fair ones with whom they were dining;
the ladies at that time being content to prove the truth of the adage,
"Fingers were made before forks."
Collectors soon realize that there were many forms of knives even
amongst those specially reserved for table use. Both blades and handles
have passed through many stages in the gradual evolution from the
hunting knife to the cutlery on the modern dinner table. The blades have
been narrow and pointed like daggers, and they have been
scimitar-shaped, and rounded off at the point. The qualities of the
material have changed, too, Sheffield cutlers and those of other places
vying with one another. The cutlery trade has long drifted north,
although at one time the members of the London Cutlers' Company were
proud of the quality of their goods, and boasted of their knives being
"London made, haft and blade." This ancient Guild tried hard to maintain
their pre-eminence, and in the days of Elizabeth obtained a Charter
prohibiting all strangers from bringing any knives into England from
beyond the seas.
The carving knife seems to have had a separate descent from the large
hunting knives used to cut up barons of beef, roasted oxen, and portions
which were cut off the joint for each individual or for several persons.
Forks for table use were a much later invention, although there were
larger meat forks, flesh forks, and heavier iron kitchen appliances (see
Chapter V).
In very early times small forks, of which there are some in the
Guildhall Museum dating from Roman and Saxon times, were chiefly used
for fruit. The use of forks at table, for meat, is attributed to the
invention of an Italian, and the custom thus started rapidly spread "in
good society" on the Continent of Europe. Thomas Coryate, a noted
traveller, is said to have introduced them into Germany, and afterwards
into England, where their use was at first much ridiculed as effeminate,
the "fork-carving" traveller being spoken of in contempt.
Forks were in regular use in England early in the sixteenth century.
Dean Stanley, in his _Memorials of Westminster Abbey_, quotes from the
Chapter Book of 1554, in which it is stated by Dean Weston (1553-6) that
the College dinners "became somewhat disorderly, _forks_ and knives were
tossed freely to and fro." The old table forks were two-pronged, the
prongs being long and set near together; the steel forks of the early
nineteenth century were three-pronged, and another prong was added
later, the latter form being adapted by the makers of silver forks in
more recent years.
In Fig. 18 is shown a very handsome knife case and its contents, which
are to be seen in the Victoria and Albert Museum. In Fig. 19 another
example of a set of knife, fork, and spoon in the same collection is
illustrated.
The spoon is, like the knife, of great antiquity. It is said to have
been suggested by shells on the shore, and by the hollow of the hand
which in the most primitive days was used to drink with. The most
beautiful old spoons are those made of silver, a magnificent pair being
shown in Fig. 20. Many such spoons are now almost priceless, especially
the much-valued Apostle spoons, often given in olden time as christening
gifts. Silver spoons more correctly belong to antique silver, which
forms another branch of curio-collecting.
Of spoons there are many made of other materials than silver, some being
carved in wood (see Chapter XIII), others of ivory, and some of bone.
Many of the older spoons were made of brass or latten; but when silver
became popular table spoons of silver were procured whenever it was
possible to afford them, and a collection including in the varieties the
Apostle and the seal top, and its various developments from the rat-tail
to the fiddle, is obtainable. As regarding spoons Westman has written:
"The spoon is one of the first things wanted when we come into the
world, and it is one of the last things we part with before we go out."
[Illustration: FIG. 19.--KNIFE, FORK, AND SPOON.
(_In the Victoria and Albert Museum._)]
The collector revels in the beautifully engraved blades of the rarer
curios; in the handles so varied in their materials and ornament; and in
the cases in which knives, forks, and spoons have in many instances been
preserved. From the curios in museums and from family treasures it is
evident that much of the cutlery has been presented as donations to the
housekeeping outfit of a newly-married couple, or given as presentation
sets or pieces on some special occasion; just as cutlery is often chosen
for presentation purposes to-day.
From the sixteenth century onwards such sets have been made and
presented. The recently arranged cutlery room in the Victoria and Albert
Museum at South Kensington, that great art treasure-house of the nation,
contains an exceptionally representative collection. In some instances
the examples are only single specimens which may have been presented
separately, or they may have formed part of a more complete set. There
are sets of carving knives with long blades, forks with double prongs,
and broad-pointed flat-bladed servers, many of them etched and engraved
all over. Even after carvers were regular features on the table the
small knives and forks were brought by the guests who were bidden to the
feast, for it must be remembered that it was not until 1670 that Prince
Rupert brought the first complete set of forks to this country.
In the Victoria and Albert Museum there is a very beautiful little
knife, the handle of which is delicately carved, the group which
constitutes the design representing our first parents standing beneath
the Tree of Knowledge, in the midst of which the wily serpent is
cunningly concealed.
Another pair consisting of a very handsome knife and fork have handles
representing animals and grotesque figures. These were the work of Dutch
artists in the seventeenth century; but curiously enough the quaint
leather case in which this knife and fork are enclosed was evidently of
earlier date, for it has upon it "1598." Some of the cases of leather
made by the _cuir boulli_ process are circular, there being separate
holes for each of the knives they were intended to contain. Some of the
knives are very curious, especially those with wooden or horn handles of
sixteenth and early seventeenth-century make, which have been found in
considerable numbers in Moorfields and Finsbury, along with sharpening
steels. The ordinary table knives of a little later date, when they were
sold in half-dozens and dozens along with two-pronged forks, were
decorative, their handles being made of materials varying in quality and
in the excellence of their manufacture. One of the most beautiful sets
of rare historic value now on view in the Victoria and Albert Museum is
part of a set of fourteen, the ivory handles being carved to represent
the kings and queens of England. These rare examples of the English
cutler's and ivory carver's art, dated 1607, have blades damascened with
gold. There are knives also with handles of amber, one very remarkable
set in amber over foil being decorated with the figure of Christ and His
Apostles on one side of the handles, and on the other side there is the
Apostles' Creed.
Among other materials used in the manufacture of handles for knives and
forks, some of the latter having two prongs and others three, chiefly
made in the eighteenth century, are: Battersea enamel on copper,
Staffordshire agate ware, Meissen porcelain, Venetian millefiore glass,
Bow porcelain, jasper, Venetian aventurine glass, enamelled earthenware,
and Chantilly porcelain. In many instances these handles made of such
beautiful materials are further decorated by miniature painted scenes
and floral ornaments. Another favourite material is bone, some of the
older handles being stained, mostly green, afterwards decorated with
applied silver in floral and geometrical designs. There are a few
maple-wood handles of the eighteenth century, and others of stag's horn
and of shagreen.
The knife box with its divisions, referred to elsewhere, is exemplified
in many remarkably fine cases to be seen in our museums and in isolated
specimens in private collections.
The interest in a collection of household utensils is greatly enhanced
by the halo of romance which surrounds the uses of some of them. This is
seen and understood by the collector of cutlery perhaps more than of
anything else, for many old customs have been associated with the giving
of cutlery, and superstitious beliefs have crept in.
The gift of cutlery at weddings was not always the prosaic thing it is
nowadays, for the cases and even the knives were often accompanied by
some sentimental rhyme or poetic inscription. Two knives, apparently the
gift of bride and bridegroom to one another, now in the British Museum,
are engraved with separate inscriptions. One reads:--
"My love is fixt I will not range,
I like my choice I will not change";
while on the other is engraved:--
"Witt, wealth, and beauty all doe well
But constant love doth fair excell. 1676."
The early uses of knives in association with religious rites are
interesting, as, for instance, the golden knife with which the old
Druids cut the mistletoe with pomp and much mystic ceremony. The early
Christians made use of the knife and symbolized the cross when feasting;
indeed, the old country habit--which is now deemed a sign of
vulgarity--of crossing the knife and fork after dining, took its origin
in that act of devotion, for together they form the Greek cross.
Browning refers to the custom when he says:--
"Knife and fork he never lays
Crosswise, to my recollection,
As I do in Jesu's praise."
In Russia this custom of the peasantry was deep-rooted; and there they
were careful to take up the knife and fork and lay them down on the
plate crossed before commencing their often meagre meal.
[Illustration: FIG. 20.--PAIR OF DECORATED SPOONS.
(_In the Victoria and Albert Museum._)]
Strange to say that although knives and forks have been crossed in
reverence, to cross knives has been deemed unlucky, and to present a
maiden with a pair of scissors--two crossed blades--has long been held
by those who believe in such signs as unlucky. To give a knife is to
"cut luck"--so the legend runs; hence so many when presenting a pocket
knife will demand a penny (as the smallest coin when silver pennies were
in circulation) in return. The Rev. Samuel Bishop, M.A., Master of the
Merchant Taylors' School in 1795, wrote the following lines on the
subject of presenting a knife to his wife:--
"A knife, dear girl, cuts love, they say--
Mere modish love perhaps it may:
For any tool of any kind
Can separate what was never join'd."
Salt Cellars.
The condiments of the table were usually supplied in separate vessels.
The use of salt with meat goes back to primitive times, although we have
few records of the vessels in which it was served. The Arab chief offers
his guest salt as an act of friendship, and as such it is partaken of.
The classic Ancients consecrated salt before using it, and the salt
cellar was placed upon the table together with the first fruits "for the
gods," those to whom they were offered being generally Hercules or
Mercury. The Greek salt cellars were shaped like bowls, and as the salt
became an important feature as a dividing line between rich and poor,
the size of the cellar grew. To realize the importance of the salt
cellar in mediaeval England, we have only to visit the Tower of London,
where the great salt cellars of State are kept. The large standing salt
was the dividing line upon the table. Salt cellars dating from the
fourteenth century are in existence, and many curiously shaped designs
intervened before the bell-shaped salts which were fashionable in the
days of Elizabeth and the trencher salts of Queen Anne and the early
Georges. Salt cellars with feet came into fashion in the reign of George
II; then followed many minor changes until the beautifully perforated
salt cellars with blue liners bearing hall-marks dating from the close
of the eighteenth century came into vogue. It is from among the Georgian
table appointments that collectors gather most of their specimens. The
materials of which these salt cellars were made vary; there are sterling
silver, antique pewter, and Sheffield plate; and there are salt cellars
of china and porcelain which may well be included in a collection of
table curios.
Cruet Stands.
The separate bottles or cruets, casters, mustard pots, and very rarely
salts, were gradually gathered together and placed in a frame which grew
big in late Georgian and early Victorian days. For convenience the stand
was placed in the centre of the table, and often made to revolve. Such
cruets are met with in silver and other metals, also in papier-mache,
often ornamented with mother-o'-pearl and painted flowers. The greatest
interest, however, is found in collecting separate bottles, such as
those charming Bristol glass cruets, ornamented with flowers and
lettered with the names of their contents, such as "VINEGAR," "SALAD
OIL," "MUSTARD," "PEPPER."
There is a greater variety of form in the metal cruets and casters,
which followed the prevailing styles silversmiths were then employing.
Especially graceful are the old pepperettes and vase-shaped casters. The
woodturner, too, contributed to the table appointments of the eighteenth
century, and the carver made some curious and even grotesque figures,
the heads of which took off, and thus formed pepper casters. One of the
most noted grotesque sets reminds us of the Toby fill-pot jugs in form,
a complete set consisting of two salts, two mustards, and two pepper
pots. Genuine specimens are very difficult to meet with now, although
those Staffordshire cruets have been reproduced, and are offered either
singly or in sets; but the difference between the genuine antique and
the modern replica ought not to deceive even an amateur.
There are varieties of mustard pots, which were in turn round, oval,
square, hexagonal, and cylindrical, some being like miniature well
buckets with perforated sides and blue metal liners.
Punch and Toddy.
A hundred years ago the punch bowl was inseparable from the convivial
feast. It was a favourite sideboard ornament, and found in frequent use
on the dining table, round which smokers and card players drew up and
filled their glasses with punch and toddy. Ladles were indispensable,
and were varied in form and in the materials of which they were
composed. Punch ladles were in earlier days made of cherry-wood, mounted
with a silver rim and fitted with a long handle, often made of twisted
horn. The horn, which was somewhat pliable, was secured to the bowl by
a silver socket. Other ladles were made entirely of silver, some having
a current coin of the realm, a guinea preferably, fixed in the bottom of
the bowl--for luck. Some of the ladles were beautifully decorated in
repousse, others were shaped like sauce boats; there were ladles without
lips, others deep like the porringers, and yet others were quite round
like a drinking bowl. Some are family heirlooms, others have been
purchased in curio shops, and unfortunately during the last few years so
great has been the demand for them that many modern copies have been
palmed off as genuine antiques. The hall-mark on the rim is in many
instances a guarantee of age, although some of the genuine specimens do
not appear to have been hall-marked at all. The fact that an old coin is
found fixed within the bowl is no criterion of antiquity, and does not
always indicate that the punch ladle itself is contemporary with the
coin, for old coins are common enough and readily fixed in new ladles.
Collectors of old china simply revel in punch bowls. Punch was at the
height of its popularity when most of the domestic porcelain and
decorative china, now rare and valuable, was being made. The best known
potters in Worcester, Derby, Bristol, Liverpool, and the Potteries made
punch bowls, some ornamented with their characteristic decorations;
others were specially emblematical, such, for instance, as the bowls
covered with masonic signs; some were nautical in design, and many were
enriched with coats of arms and crests. Several of the punch bowls
belonging to the old City Companies are on view in the Guildhall Museum,
and isolated specimens are seen to be in other places.
Oriental china was at that time being imported into this country very
extensively, and some remarkably delicate bowls, contrasting with
Mason's strong ironstone, are obtainable. These bowls, ladles, and the
charming little egg-shaped boxes which formerly contained a nutmeg and a
tiny grater are household table furnishings of exceptional interest. It
may interest some to learn that punch, which came into vogue in the
seventeenth century, derived its name from a Hindustani word signifying
five, indicative of the five ingredients of which it was
composed--spirit, water, sugar, lemon, and spice.
Porringers and Cups.
Although sterling silver and other materials from which drinking vessels
are usually made have been exhaustively dealt with in other volumes of
the "Chats" series, as table appointments drinking cups must be referred
to here. Caudle cups were in use in the sixteenth century, and
throughout the century that followed they were used along with
porringers, which differed from them only in that the mouths of the
porringers were wider and the sides straight. The caudle cup, sometimes
called a posset cup, is met with both without and with cover, and in
some instances it is accompanied by a stand or tray. Caudle or posset
was a drink consisting of milk curdled with wine, and in the days when
it was drunk few went to bed without a cup of smoking hot posset. Many
of the early cups were beautifully embossed and florally ornamented,
although others were quite plain, with the exception of an engraved
shield, on which was a coat of arms, crest, or monogram. Many of the
porringers which followed the earlier type were octagonal, and in some
instances twelve-sided. In the reign of William and Mary the rage for
Chinese figures and ornaments caused English silversmiths to decorate
porringers with similar designs. The style which prevailed the longest
was that known as "Queen Anne," much copied in modern replicas. Very
pleasing, too, are eighteenth-century miniature porringers.
There is much to please in the work of the silversmith and potter, as
well as the glass blower, in the cups they fashioned; and the artist
admires the chased engraving or the rich colouring, and perchance the
etching and cutting of the cup. Some, however, show preference for the
earlier cups and drinking vessels of commoner materials, and for those
eccentricities of the table found in curious hunting cups, vessels which
had to be emptied at a draught, or to be drunk under the most difficult
conditions like the puzzle cups of Staffordshire make. The peg tankards
of ancient date, a very fine example originally belonging to the Abbey
of Glastonbury, afterwards in the possession of Lord Arundel of Wardour,
held two quarts, the pegs dividing its contents into half-pints
according to the Winchester standard. On that remarkable cup the twelve
Apostles were carved round the sides, and on the lid was the scene at
the Crucifixion.
[Illustration: FIG. 21.--TWO WOODEN CUPS.
FIG. 22.--WOODEN FLAGON, WITH COPPER BANDS.
(_In the National Museum of Wales._)]
[Illustration: FIGS. 23, 24.--COCOANUT CUPS (SILVER-MOUNTED).
FIG. 25.--COCOANUT FLAGON.]
It is said that the pegs were first ordered by Edgar, the Saxon king, to
prevent excessive drinking, the tankard being passed round, every man
being expected to drink down to the next peg. Heywood, in his
_Philocathonista_, says: "Of drinking cups, divers and sundry sorts we
have, some of elm, some of box, and some of maple and holly." According
to the quaint spelling of those days there were then in use in Merrie
England: "Mazers, noqqins, whiskins, piggins, cringes, ale-bowls, wassel
bowls, tankard and kames from a pottle to a pint and from a pint to a
gill." The leather cups and tankards or black jacks (see Chapter VIII)
were mostly used in country places by "shepheards and harvesters." A
writer in a work published in the early years of the nineteenth century
says: "Besides metal and wood and pottery we have cups of hornes of
beasts, of cocker nuts, of goords, of eggs of ostriches, and of the
shells of divers fishes."
A simple cocoanut, mounted in silver and made into a cup, perhaps a
century or more ago, is by no means to be despised. Some are beautifully
polished and ornamented with incised work. Contemporary with the earlier
specimens are pots made of ostrich eggs, mounted in silver, regarded of
great value in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Some of the
university colleges possess fine examples, and there are many in the
hands of London silversmiths. Figs. 23 and 24 represent two cocoanut
cups with feet of silver, one engraved with the owner's initials, the
foot being decorated with bead ornament. Fig. 25 is a cocoanut mounted
as a flagon with handle of whalebone and rim and foot of silver. The
use of such cups seems to have been very generally distributed all over
the world, for there are many South American examples, as well as the
English varieties. The gourd, too, was used for similar purposes; the
Mexicans made such bowls and cups, finishing them off with silver mounts
and sometimes adding silver feet. There are French flasks made of small
gourds, sometimes scent flasks being made in the same way, not
infrequently decorated with incised inlays of coloured composition on a
black ground. Some of the English silversmiths engraved hunting scenes
on small flasks made of the rind of a gourd, choosing hunting scenes and
birds and familiar outdoor objects.
In Figs. 21 and 21A are shown two curious old wood drinking cups, and
Fig. 22 represents a wooden jug bound with copper.
Horn was a favourite material for cups, sometimes surmounted by
elaborate covers and feet of silver. One of the rarest drinking horns,
now in Queen's College, Oxford, was presented to the College by the
Queen of Edward III in 1340. Of later types there are beakers and
tumbler cups, the latter rounded at the base so that they were easily
upset, the idea being that they must be emptied at the first draught.
From these cups sprang the quaint hunting cups in porcelain, modelled in
the form of a hare's head, or like a fox, some of the scarcest being
evidently modelled for the fisherman's use, to take the form of a fish's
head.
The very remarkable drinking cup shown in Fig. 27 is made of walnut;
the ridges, carved in deep relief, stand out boldly, each one being
carved, the letters forming a complete metaphor, to which is added the
name of its original owner, the inscription reading as follows:--
"TAKE . NOT . FROM . ME .
AL . MY . STOR . AXCP . YE .
FILL . ME . VEE . SVME . MOR .
FOR . AV . TO . BORROV .
AND . NEVER . TO . PAY .
I . CALL . THAT .
FOVLL . PLAY .
ION WATSON 1695."
Trays and Waiters.
In olden time not very far from the dining table stood the cupboard or
buffet from which evolved the sideboard. On it were displayed the cups
and flagons and table appointments not actually in use. It is true the
servants carried the great dishes from the kitchen, and removed the
lesser vessels on trays and "waiters," and it is such trays, especially
those in silver and Sheffield plate used in the last century, which are
now valuable. The waiter or serving man or woman has been an essential
feature in domestic service from the earliest times, for the history of
society invariably records those who wait at table:--
"The waiters stand in ranks; the yeomen cry
'Make room,' as if a duke were passing by."
SWIFT.
It is an easy remove from the waiter to the tray or vessel on which the
waiters carried the things they served up to those on whom they waited.
The name "salver," commonly applied to a tray or waiter, seems to have
originated from the old custom of tasting meats before they were served,
to salve or save their employers from harm. Among the more valuable are
the trays or waiters of silver and Sheffield plate. Trays made of iron
and japanned after the fashion of Japanese metal lacquer wares, which
towards the close of the eighteenth century were so largely imported
into this country, are often neglected, yet many of them are truly
antiquarian and by no means unlovely.
One of the chief seats of the industry was at Pontypool, but the
business drifted to Birmingham. It was when the japan wares, so called
from the attempt of the makers to copy the lacquers of Japan then much
imported, were being successfully made amidst surroundings then
exceedingly romantic in the little town singularly situated on a steep
cliff overhanging the Avon Llwyd, that dealers found trays,
breadbaskets, snuffer trays, knife trays, caddies, and urns much in
request. In Bishopsgate Street Without, in London, there is a noted wine
house known as the "Dirty Dick." This curious title was derived from the
owner of a famous hardware store who kept it, and was dubbed "Dirty
Dick" because of his untidy shop. The wild disorder of the establishment
gave rise to a popular ballad of which the following are two of the
first lines:--
"A curious hardware shop in general full
Of wares from Birmingham and Pontypool."
In addition to japanned wares there are trays of paper pulp ornamented
with mother-o'-pearl and richly decorated with gold.
The Tea Table.
The modern tea table presents a much less formal array of china and good
things than that of a generation or two back when high tea was an
important function, and the good wife of the household loaded her table
with many substantial dishes. The best china was taken from the
cupboard, and family heirlooms in silver were arrayed on either side of
the teapot. Needless to say the teapot was an indispensable adjunct, and
some of the teapots belonging to the old sets are massive and gorgeous,
rather than beautiful, although the earlier teapots made in this country
in the eighteenth century, a time when tea was expensive and a real
luxury, were quite small.
There are many curiosities, too--such, for instance, as the Chinese
teapots of the Ming period, when the potters seem to have vied with one
another in producing grotesque forms, and from china clay fashioned
objects which typified their mythological beliefs. Some of these teapots
took the form of curious sea-horses represented as swimming in waves of
green and amidst seaweed. Some of these fabulous beasts are spotted over
with splashes of colour, and others have curious twig-like formations
upon their sides, said to denote pieces of coral and water plants from
the ocean. The teapot was at one time most frequently filled from the
pretty little oval copper or brass kettle on the hob, or from a swing
kettle on a stand on the table. The table kettle was generally heated by
a spirit lamp which kept the water boiling ready for use. Of later years
silver table appointments of early eighteenth-century make have become
very scarce, and the curio value of the larger pieces has steadily
risen. It would seem as if the maximum figure had been reached for
silver of that period, for at the sale of the Fitzhenry collection a
plain kettle and stand, an example of Ambrose Stevenson's work in 1717,
realized L697.
Cream Jugs.
The cream jug included in the tea and coffee sets of silver or metal,
and in the tea china of which so many beautiful sets are still extant,
has almost an independent position in connection with table
appointments, for ever since tea drinking became general it was regarded
as a necessity, and was made in accord with the then prevailing styles.
It is almost the commonest collectable antique in this particular group.
In silver it was always hall-marked, and its date can, therefore, be
fixed. Briefly outlining the development of its form, it may be
mentioned that it was quite plain in the reign of Queen Anne, when tea
drinking came into fashion. When George I came to the throne it was
widened somewhat and made a little shorter. At that time the silver
cream jugs were hammered into shape out of a flat sheet, there being no
seam; after the body was formed a rim was added and a lip put on. There
was a deeper rim in the reign of George II, and then feet took the place
of rims.
[Illustration: FIG. 26.--EARLY ENGLISH BRONZE EWER.
(_In the British Museum._)]
Gradually Chippendale carving and the shaped legs of the furniture then
being used were reflected even in the cream jug, the lip in those days
being hammered out of the body of the vessel with a graceful curve. Rims
again took the place of feet in the reign of George III, and the tall
legged cream jug came into vogue. The body was decorated with repousse
work or engraved, and the shape gradually changed until the familiar
helmet-shaped cream jug resulted. The helmet cream jugs were beautifully
engraved with ribbon and wreath decoration, and frequently there was a
beaded pattern round the rim and the handle. The same styles prevailed
both in Sheffield plate and in Britannia metal, often misnamed pewter.
The decoration on the china cream jugs was frequently floral, but in
those made in the leading potteries there was a distinct following of
the public style.
Sugar Tongs and Nippers.
With the use of lump sugar late in the eighteenth century sugar tongs
were added to the table appointments, and their decoration and ornament
usually followed that of teaspoons. They were sometimes engraved with
the crests or initials of the owners, and occasionally, in the case of
wedding presents, with the initials of both the master and mistress of
the household, one being placed inside the sugar tongs and the other on
the arch outside. In connection with the cutting of lump sugar steel
sugar nippers were much used in the kitchen before lump sugar was bought
from the grocer ready cut up. These nippers, some of the earlier ones
being chased and engraved, have now passed into the region of household
curios.
Caddies.
As the tea table would be incomplete without the beverage brewed from
tea-leaves it follows as a natural sequence that the housewife has
always required a storebox for her supply, and in some cases one in
which she could keep under lock and key more than one variety. When tea
was first imported into this country it was sent over from China in a
_kati_, a small wooden box holding about 1-1/3 lb.; hence the name
passed on to the more elaborate receptacles on the sideboard containing
the household supply. These boxes were mostly fashioned in accord with
the furniture, many having the well-known Sheraton shell design on the
lid, or on the front of the box. Some are square-sided, others tapered,
generally finished with beautiful little brass caddy balls as feet, and
often with brass ring handles and ornaments. The inside of the caddy was
divided into two compartments, usually boxes lined with lead or lead
paper, and frequently a central compartment for a sugar bowl was added.
In nearly all the better boxes there was provision for the silver caddy
spoon with which to apportion the accustomed supply.
Chelsea and Bow Cupids.
Those curious little boy figures known as Chelsea and Bow Cupids are for
the most part classed with ornaments, but they more appropriately
belong to table appointments, for in olden time when the cloth had been
removed these curious little figures were placed upon the mahogany or
oaken board along with the dessert, as if to guard the fruit and the
wine. The Cupids are garlanded with flowers, baskets of which they have
in their hands--delightful little figures when genuine antiques. They
vary in size and are said to have been divided in the past as "small"
and "large" boys.
Nutcrackers.
Many a famous joke has been cracked over the "walnuts and wine." It was
when the board was cleared of the viands that the nuts and fruit were
partaken of. The edible nuts mostly favoured before foreign supplies
came into the market were the hazel, walnut, chestnut, and the famous
Kent filberts. Although doubtless supplemented by any objects handy, the
primitive method of cracking nuts with the teeth was generally practised
by the common people. What more natural than for the early inventor to
see in the human head the "box" in which to place his mechanical device
and to give power and leverage by utilizing the legs of the man he had
carved in wood. In the Middle Ages some remarkable carvings were
produced, mostly working on the same lines as the earliest forms. In the
seventeenth century, when metal crackers came into vogue, pressure was
applied by means of a screw, and the contemporary wood crackers were
designed on that principle. Afterwards the older type of cracker was
revived, both in wood and metal; subsequently the simpler form at
present in use was adopted.
Here and there in museums and among domestic relics odd pairs of these
old crackers are discovered. The interest in them, however, grows when
several early examples are placed side by side. There are a few
instances of specialized collections, and through the courtesy of Mr.
Charles Evans, of Nailsea Court, who possesses a unique collection of
all periods, we are able to illustrate a variety of forms. Fig. 31
represents a very early pair of nutcrackers, probably made in the
fourteenth century; the one shown in Fig. 34 has the Elizabethan ruff
round the neck of the carved head; and Figs. 28, 29, and 30 represent
the screw period, Fig. 28 being an early example. One of the finest
pieces in the collection is Fig. 29, a cracker in the form of a hooded
monk; Fig. 30 being a charming bit of wood-carving in walnut wood, a
somewhat grotesque figure representing an old fiddler. Fig. 33 is a
curious cracker combining a useful pick almost in the form of the bill
of a bird, Fig. 32 being of similar date. The next group shows the
evolution from the metal screw to the more ordinary types, Figs. 36 and
38 being screw nutcrackers; 35, 37, and 39 being quaint examples of
early metal nutcrackers modelled on more modern form. Such curios are
extremely interesting, and whether exhibited as specimens of carving or
of metal work, or used as table ornaments combining utility and
antiquarian interest, they are well worth securing.
[Illustration: FIG. 27.--INSCRIBED SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY WOOD DRINKING
CUP.
(_In Taunton Castle Museum._)]
[Illustration: FIGS. 28-30.--EARLY CARVED WOOD NUTCRACKERS.
(_In the collection of Mr. Charles Evans, of Nailsea Court._)]
Turned Woodware.
Table appointments have afforded amateur wood-turners and carvers
opportunities of showing their skill. Even before the days of modern
lathes with eccentric chucks and other improvements, turners were very
clever in producing little articles for table use, and in their making
expended a wealth of skill and time. Among these were pepper boxes and
wooden salt cellars, and carved wooden spoons, especially salad servers,
which are even still made and delicately carved, the Swiss peasants
being famous for such work. One of the village occupations during winter
evenings in years gone by was to make wooden objects, although most of
their efforts were directed in other ways than table appointments (see
Chapter XIII, Fig. 85).
On the Sideboard.
Not far removed from the dining table is the sideboard or buffet, so
important a piece of furniture in the dining hall, for on it were
formerly displayed table appointments and emblems of the feast. The
urn-shaped knife boxes which were so often placed on either side were
chiefly of mahogany, sometimes inlaid with satinwood and often with
those rare shell-like ornaments which became so popular in the days of
Chippendale and Sheraton. The compartments in which were placed the
table knives prevented either blades or handles from being rubbed.
Copper and metal urns were frequently conspicuous on the sideboard,
although many of the small tables so much treasured now as antiques in
the drawing-room were originally made for urns to stand upon.
There are many beautiful curios of the home made of wood, among them
being such rare gems as wood screens and the frames of hand screens,
some of which screwed on to the ends of the mantelpieces with small
clamps.
[Illustration: FIGS. 31-34.--MEDIAEVAL WOOD NUTCRACKERS.]
[Illustration: FIGS. 35-39.--EARLY STEEL AND BRASS NUTCRACKERS.
(_In the collection of Mr. Charles Evans, of Nailsea Court._)]
V
THE KITCHEN
[Illustration: FIG. 40.--TWO ANTIQUE WARMING PANS.
(_In the Victoria and Albert Museum._)]
[Illustration: FIG. 41.--WELSH KITCHEN FIREPLACE.
(_In the National Museum of Wales._)]
CHAPTER V
THE KITCHEN
The kitchen grate--Boilers and kettles--Grills and
gridirons--Cooking utensils--Warming pans.
It is in the kitchen and the pantry that domestic economy centres. The
very essence of home life is found in the preparation of suitable food
in which to satisfy human appetites. Whether the kitchen is furnished
with apparatus sufficient to cook for the inmates of a large
institution, or with the more modest appliances with which a chop or a
steak can be grilled or a small joint roasted in a gas oven, the basis
of cooking operations is the same, and the cook requires an outfit of
culinary utensils small or large, according to what she has been
accustomed to use or considers necessary for her immediate wants. In
olden time the kitchen was furnished with fewer accessories in
proportion to the meat consumed than at the present time, and the large
hanging caldron and the strong and heavy wrought or cast iron saucepan
on the fire, and the roasting spit and jack in front of it, went a long
way towards completing the outfit. The gradual advance and increase in
the furnishings of the kitchen have been the outcome of development and
progress in culinary art. Since the introduction of scientific cooking
and the establishment of schools of cookery, the hired cook and the
mistress who dons the apron and assumes the role of the economic
housewife have learned to appreciate the use of modern culinary
appliances, lighter in weight and convenient to handle. These differ
according to the purposes for which they are to be used.
Hygienic conditions now regarded as essential have displaced many of the
older cooking pots which have been condemned as injurious to health.
Greater knowledge of the chemistry of cooking, and of the action of
acids upon metals, has enabled the scientific cook to differentiate
between the pots and pans to use according to the various foods
prepared. The beautifully finished light, handy, and convenient
porcelain-enamelled saucepans and stewpans and aluminium cooking pots
used on modern gas stoves and ranges, would have been just as unsuitable
on the open fires of the older grates as what are now regarded as the
curios of the kitchen would be deemed to be in modern culinary
operations. In almost every house there are to be found obsolete
utensils, some of which are valued on account of their great age, others
because of their unusual forms, and some because of the beauty of
workmanship and the costly materials of which they have been made. It is
when turning out the kitchen and storeroom on the occasion of periodical
cleanings that these old-world pots and pans come to light; at such
times the collector may be able to secure scarce specimens and rescue
them from oblivion.
[Illustration: FIG. 42.--MECHANICAL ROASTING JACKS.
(_In the collection of Mr. Charles Wayte._)]
It is not always easy to realize what the old kitchen was like when
these vessels were in use, although in out-of-the-way places kitchens
may occasionally be discovered in which but little change has been made.
This is especially so in some of the Welsh villages, and in order that
visitors may see what such kitchens are like a Welsh cottage fireplace
showing the objects which might commonly have been found there a century
ago has been reconstructed in the National Museum of Wales. This we are
able to reproduce in Fig. 41 by the courtesy of the Director. The grate
came from Llansantffraid, and was made by a local blacksmith; the spit
and its bearers came from Glamorgan; the brass pot came from Barry, and
the dog wheel (referred to on p. 130) from Haverfordwest; most of the
minor accessories came from different parts of North Wales.
The Kitchen Grate.
The kitchen grate has evolved from the open fire; at first in the centre
of the room, then removed for convenience to the side or end in front of
which joints of meats were roasted on a spit in olden time. The spit, at
first quite primitive, was improved upon by local smiths, until quite
intricate arrangements provided the desired revolutions, and turned the
meat round and round until it was properly cooked. In the thirteenth
century the "bellows blower" was an officer in the Royal kitchen, his
duty being to see that the soup on the fire was neither burnt nor
smoked. In course of time the bellows blower in lesser households became
a useful kitchen boy, turning the spit by hand. It would seem, however,
as if in quite early days efforts were made to economize labour in the
kitchen, and turn the spit by mechanical contrivances.
In roasting meat sliding prongs held the joint in place, a cage or
basket being used for roasting poultry. This contrivance, first turned
by hand, was afterwards accelerated and made more regular by the
mechanical contrivances just referred to. These appear to have been of
three different types. There was the clock jack, two splendid specimens
of which are illustrated in Fig. 42, types becoming exceedingly rare.
Those illustrated were recently in the possession of Mr. Charles Wayte,
of Edenbridge, an enthusiastic discoverer of antiquarian metal work in
out-of-the-way places in Sussex and Kent. Earlier still there was the
smoke jack or rotary fan fixed in the chimney, operated by an
up-draught, pulleys and cords being attached to the end of the spit. The
third method referred to involved the shifting of manual labour from man
to his domestic beast, for the faithful hound was pressed into the
service of the cook. The dog worked in a cage, operating a wheel or drum
which in its turn revolved the turnspit. Such turnspits seem to have had
a lingering existence, and were occasionally heard of in North Wales
late in the nineteenth century.
[Illustration: GRIDIRONS SHOWING FOREIGN INFLUENCE IN DESIGN: FIG. 43,
ITALIAN; FIG. 44, FLEMISH; FIG. 45, DUTCH; FIG. 46, GERMAN.]
Roasting before the fire lingered on long after the old-fashioned iron
jacks and spits had ceased to be the common method of cooking meat. The
meat hastener and the Dutch oven conserved and radiated the heat, the
joint turning slowly by the clockwork mechanism of the improved brass
bottle jack. As the size of the fireplace narrowed and kitchens were
built smaller roasting in ovens became popular; the cooker of to-day
with its hot-plates, grills, and steam chests--whether heated by coal,
gas, or electricity--presents a remarkable contrast to the old open fire
grate.
It will readily be understood that the necessary basting of meat
roasting before the fire involved the use of ladles and other utensils
before the modern cooking appliances were invented. Most of the old
vessels were strong and lasting, and the materials employed in their
construction were iron, copper, and brass. In Fig. 49 we show a
selection of fat boats and hammered iron grease pans (in the centre of
the plate is an old mothering-iron from Sussex) typical of the vessels
used in open fire roasting. To these may be added basting spoons and
skimmers, in many places called "skummers."
Boilers and Kettles.
It is probable that the cooking pot over the fire has been used side by
side with roasting apparatus from the earliest times, although no doubt
vessels would be required for boiling foods before roasting, in that
discoveries show that the earliest method of roasting a piece of meat or
a small animal was to encase it in clay and then expose it to the fire.
The clay crust could then be broken and would, of course, have been
destroyed.
No doubt the crock antedated the bronze pot, which was at first made of
metal plates hammered and beaten into shape, and then riveted together.
This method was followed by the craft of the founder, who cast vessels
after the same model first in bronze and then in iron. The cooking pot
was indispensable when the food of the common people was chiefly such as
necessitated a vessel containing liquid; the name of this ancient vessel
has furnished us with many apt quotations, and it is still the pot so
many find difficult to keep boiling.
There have been many contrivances by which to suspend the pot over the
fire. Years ago the usual method of suspension was from a beam of wood
or a bar of iron placed across the chimney opening--the name by which
the bar was known in the North of England was a "gallybawk." Simple
contrivances of metal followed, the suspension hooks and chains leading
to improved cranes with rack and loop handles.
No doubt many have noticed the apparent indiscriminate use of the term
"kettle"; the tea kettle as we understand it to-day is a modern
invention. The old kettle was a boiling pot with a bail handle, its
modern survivor being the three-legged kettle of the gipsies, and the
boiling pot or fish kettle of the modern household. Associated with the
early use of tea kettles slung over a fire is the now scarce lazy-back
or tilter, at one time common in the West of England and in South Wales.
[Illustration: FIGS. 47, 48.--TWO WOODEN FOOD BOXES.
(_In the Cardiff Museum._)]
[Illustration: FIG. 49.--A COLLECTION OF IRON FAT BOATS AND GREASE
PANS.]
In "Chats on Old Copper and Brass" some very interesting illustrations
of old copper and brass saucepans, skillets, and pipkins are given. The
skillet has survived for several centuries. Those made in the
seventeenth century were frequently inscribed with various religious and
sentimental legends; one in the National Museum of Wales is inscribed
"LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR." Frying pans have been in common use for a great
number of years and are still daily requisitioned. Bakestones, on which
cakes were formerly baked, are, however, becoming obsolete. They were
called girdle plates in the North of England, and bakestones in Wales
and elsewhere.
Grills and Gridirons.
The gridiron or "griddle" was an appliance used extensively all over the
Continent of Europe from the sixteenth century onward. In this country
it was formerly made by the village blacksmith, and, like the iron
stool, kitchen fender, and other iron and brass kitchen utensils and
furnishings, was often made quite decorative. It would appear as if the
smith filled up his spare moments in designing intricate patterns with
which to decorate the grid. Some of the sixteenth and seventeenth-century
European gridirons were quite elaborate, serving the double purpose of
ornament and use, for when finished with for cooking purposes they were
carefully cleaned and polished and hung up over the kitchen mantelpiece.
Some of the characteristic types met with are shown in the accompanying
illustrations. In Fig. 43 is seen the light and lacy Italian style; in
Fig. 44 the openwork design of the Flemish; a formal Dutch pattern being
illustrated in Fig. 45; whereas the heavy German floreated type is
shown in Fig. 46. Contrasting with these Continental types the English
gridiron was strong and serviceable, and essentially a grid or grill,
the smith putting his best work in the handle rather than the grid.
Cooking Utensils.
Besides pots and pans there are many cooking utensils which may now be
reckoned among the domestic curios. There are, of course, ewers and
basins, water-carrying and retaining vessels, and colanders of brass and
earthenware, strainers and graters which have been used from time to
time in the kitchen. Sometimes the metal worker appears to have gone out
of the way to produce curious forms not always the most convenient for
the purposes for which they were made--such, for instance, as the
aquamaniles, several of which may be seen in the British Museum (see
Fig. 26).
[Illustration: FIG. 50.--WOODEN COFFEE CRUSHERS AND PESTLES AND MORTAR.]
[Illustration: FIG. 51.--APPLE SCOOPS OF BONE.]