Illus. 314.—Andirons, Creepers, and Fender, 1700-1800.
Judge Sewall ordered in 1719 for his daughter Judith, about to be married, “a bell-metal skillet, a warming pan, four pairs of brass headed iron dogs, a brass hearth for a chamber with dogs, tongs, shovel and fender of the newest fashion (the fire to lie on the iron), a brass mortar, four pairs of brass candlesticks, four brass snuffers with stands, six small brass chafing dishes, two brass basting ladles, a pair of bellows with brass nose, a small hair broom, a dozen pewter porringers, a dozen small glass salt cellars, and a dozen good ivory hafted knives and forks.”
Illus. 315.—Brass Andirons,
1700-1800.
The appurtenances for the fireplace in this list comprise the fender, shovel, tongs, broom, bellows, and the “dogs.”
Illustration [315] shows a pair of brass andirons and Illustration [316], a set of “brass-headed iron dogs,” such as Sewall ordered. Both pairs belong to Dwight M. Prouty, Esq, of Boston.
By 1650 the use of coal had become common in England from the scarcity and expense of wood as a fuel, and from that time fireplaces in that country were constructed for coal fires. The books of designs of the eighteenth century show many and elaborate drawings of grates for coal. In this country, however, the lack of wood has never been felt, and the fireplace to burn wood has held its own, with its andirons, not so generous as in the early days, but still of goodly size.
Illus. 316.—Brass-headed Iron Dogs,
1700-1800.