JVV 0537
Delft, circa 1750
The miniature brazier with handle stands on three small legs. Above the rounded bottom is a square-modelled top, the transition from round to square is profiled. One side has a handle attached that is painted on the outside with blue stripes.
Dimensions: height 3,2 cm 1.25 in., length 5,2 cm / 2.04 in., width 4,5 cm / 1.77 in.
Similar examples
The Lavino collection includes a white brazier with teapot stand (p. 87).
Explanatory note
Miniatures in Delftware, also known as doll's ware, were either intended as children's toys or to decorate doll's houses. In the eighteenth century doll’s houses were made for adults and not for children. A doll's house was a reflection of reality and so were the miniatures that were meticulously recreated. An ordinary brazier was used to put coals in to keep a teapot warm on a stand, similar to a contemporary tea light. These were relatively small. Larger braziers for keeping feet warm were used by sliding them into a wooden footstool, open at the top. Later, braziers were also used as ashtrays in tobacco smoking. Most braziers were made in red- or white-firing lead glazed earthenware from the seventeenth century onwards. Tin-glazed (Delftware/faience) and carved lead glazed earthenware are most commonly associated with Frisian pottery production from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Delftware braziers from Delft itself are relatively rare.
