A recent purchase through good ol’ eBay. I’d been looking
for something like it a long, LONG time. Reminds me of
what I used back in the day while at Conner Prairie (when
the interpretive emphasis was on life of the 1830′s and
not the mish-mash it is today). I love just gazing at it!
What a deal. What a find.
HUZZAH!
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That sure is pretty!
Is it cast iron?
Would you mind telling me when that sort of kettle was in use? I mostly do medieval and renaissance recreations, so I am less familiar with the 18th and 19th century stuff. But I am enjoying learning through reading your blog!
Thanks!
Alena
Thanks! I think so, too (that it’s pretty-HUZZAH!).
Yes, it’s cast iron.
Iron kettles would’ve probably been used during medieval
and renaissance times as well as in the 18th and 19th centuries. After all, the Iron Age (when humans began making tools and
weapons out of iron and steel) began BCE. And kitchen tools,
such as kettles, didn’t change much over time. There might,
possibly, be a difference in, say, the shape of the handle or
the turn of the spout and the like, but it’d be very minor. And
something made of iron like a kettle or pot is going to last,
literally, for centuries. Things were made to last…and people
made them last. Not like our current “throw-away” mindset!
hope that helps?
- – Carolina
We definitely have things called kettles, but according to the paintings and etchings available from the time, they look nothing like the later ones. Also unfortunately, though we have cast iron, I have found more evidence copper or pottery in the large kettle-like cooking vessels. Though it is harder to tell with etchings, and I’m mostly talking Continental Europe in the 16th century. Different centuries cooking gear looks pretty different if the pictures are to be believed.
Thanks!
Alena