Description:
Many warming pans for beds were made by braziers throughout northern Europe, England, and America during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. They were not necessarily a familiar bedroom implement, however, as recorded in the journal of the Scot John Harrower when he travelled to London in 1774. On January 12 he took a room at a tavern near Portsmouth, he wrote in hisjournal that following supper, he "paid 3d for my bed, and it was warmed with a warming pan, this being the first time I ever seed it done." Bed warmer with a long turned maple? handle fitted into a conical brass socket, socket attaches to a deep, circular brass pan by means of three copper rivets, the pan has an attached circular lid, lid is decorated with an engraved and punched design of a bird or cockerell, surrounded by flowers on the left side and leaves on the right side, the ground is represented by a wavy punched line punctuated by a diamond or lozenge shaped decorative punch. Condition is good with some old brass polish residue that should be removed, dent on side of pan, lid does not appear to open - perhaps stuck This bed warmer descended in the family of Asa Stebbins of Deerfield, MA. (to be confirmed). Perhaps the most famous association with a bed pan with the birth of King James II's son, James Francis Edward Stuart (1688-1766), called the "Old Pretender." Rumors circulated that James Stuart was smuggled into the birth chamber in a warming pan and was not the true heir to the throne. This claim would follow him through his whole life and he was nicknamed “the old pretender”.
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https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2014.9 |
