Description:
Small bow-shaped wire fender that may have been designed for small fireplace, probably in a bedroom or upstairs sitting room. The fender has a molded thin sheet-brass band along the top edge and a molded brass guard joining the two ends just behind the edge; over seven vertical, cylindrical iron uprights that create six panels and four horizontal iron bars that run the width of the fender; and a tightly-woven, wavy and intertwined pattern of iron wires. Unattached fenders for the fireplace began to appear in the second half of the 17th century. These wire fireplace fenders were made in large quantities both in England and the United States from the late 18th through the 19th century. Fenders were rarely marked, and there seems little apparent difference between English and America fenders, although the brass wire in this example might indicate an English origin with the "brass wire fenders" advertised in English trade catalogues. Also, a rectangular cross section of the uprights is traditionally thought to be English, and a cylindrical cross section, such as on this example, to be American. The least expensive fenders were made entirely of vertical, straight, and parallel wires; anything involving more elaborate wire patterns or use of brass increased the cost.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+0055X |
