There are some household appointments which, like some of the brass skimmers, platters, engraved foot and hand warmers, chestnut roasters, and the like, have always served the double purpose of use and ornament. Among these are warming pans which in modern days have been brought out of their hiding-places, repolished, and hung up in conspicuous places by the fireside. In the Victoria and Albert Museum, as well as some of the provincial museums, there are many very fine examples, those having dates and names upon them being especially valued. As an instance of an exceptional specimen in the Victoria and Albert Museum we may mention one on which there is an engraving of reindeer, ducally gorged, the inscription upon this pan reading: "THE EARL OF ESSEX. HIS ARMES. 1630." Another elaborate warming pan is engraved with figures of a cavalier and a lady, richly embellished with peacocks and flowers. The pan is of copper, but the handle is of wrought iron with brass ornamental mounts. Some pans have wooden handles, either walnut or oak, some of the more modern being ebonized (see Fig. [40]).
FIG. 52.—WOODEN PIGGINS AND PORRIDGE BOWL.
FIG. 53.—WOODEN PLATTER, BOWL, AND SPOONS.
(In the National Museum of Wales.)
This brief review of kitchen utensils by no means exhausts the varieties of old metal work and other curios which may still be found in kitchens. There appears to be no end to the minor varieties in form and decoration. This is natural when we remember that years ago kitchen utensils were not made in quantities after the same pattern as they are nowadays. They were the product of the local maker, the smith and the village woodworker being frequently called upon to supply new kitchen utensils, and it would appear that they did their best to make their work successful in that the vessels they fashioned were lasting, and during their use contributed in no small degree towards the ornamentation of the home.