Furniture of the Olden Time

by Frances Clary Morse

Illus. 308.—Kitchen Fireplace in Lee Mansion, 1760.

Illus. 309.—Andirons,
Eighteenth Century.

Illustration [309] shows a pair of andirons, with shovel and tongs, owned by Francis H. Bigelow, Esq. The andirons are “rights and lefts,” and have the brass knobs to prevent the forestick from falling forward. Illustration [310] shows another pair belonging to Mr. Bigelow, with claw-and-ball feet and the twisted flame top. These are given as good examples of the best styles of andirons in use in well-to-do households in America during the seventeenth century.

Illus. 310.—Andirons,
Eighteenth Century.

Illus. 311.—“Hessian” Andirons, 1776.

Illustration [311] shows a pair of “Hessians” made of iron. Andirons of this style were very popular immediately after the Revolutionary War, the figures of the hated allies of the British thus receiving the treatment with flame and ashes that Americans considered the originals to merit, to say nothing of worse indignities cast upon them by the circle of tobacco-smoking patriots.