Decorative Iron and Metalwork by R. Goodwin-Smith

Author:R. Goodwin-Smith
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780486149783
Publisher: Dover Publications
Published: 2012-10-11T04:00:00+00:00

Fig. 1

The pans were often of silver, yet since we cannot all be born with a silver warming-pan in our beds, the greater number would be of brass or copper, their handles of oak or ash.

Fig. 2 (See page 51 para. 2).

Warming-pans repay intense examination. Inside the pan there will be an effect, produced by centuries of scorching embers, which no man can convincingly counterfeit. The difficult join between handle and pan will be found, usually a little loose ; while often, on the lid, will be traces of lightly engraved leaves, nearly invisible through centuries of polishing.

Some collectors would be aghast at the suggestion that they should clean their long-handled treasures. It would certainly seem a pity to rub away the beautiful tints of red or green due to the oxidation of the brass or copper. Yet some pans are grotesquely black and filthy ; these repay a bold cleaning, and an expert hand may uncover some enchanting old surface of twining leaves which will seem a veritable gift from the past. I have done this, and the piquant little thrill of bringing back the design into being once more was unforgettable.

This was on a pan so battered and ill-used that I felt a spasm of resentment against the old-world unknowns who had been so wilfully careless. The quaintly turned handle was broken right off, and I hunted up specimens and photographs of literally scores of old handles before I ventured to design for it a handle that would be in strict accord with its detail. Handles of warming-pans—except in rarities such as Figure 2 (Plate No. 59)—are rarely less than three feet long. Usually they are uncarved, but the turning is quaint and pleasing.

The “knobbly” portions of a wooden handle will be much lighter than the interstices between the knobs, for the centuries of moist hands will have worn and polished such prominences, and left the dark polish in the crevices, while the housemaid’s traditionally sketchy dusting will have flicked over the protuberant wooden rings, but will have left grey dust in every cranny.

Finally, examine the hinge of the old clanking metal lid, and reflect, reverently, that the lid must have clanked upon this self-same note untold generations ago.

Indeed, to the serious observer, the old warming-pan is as full of significance as a book with depths of history on every page.

PLATE LIX

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