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Many believe civilization was enabled by fire and light. From a bundle of sticks tied together and lit, to a hollow shell bright with flaming moss soaked in animal fat, flammables were the driving force moving civilization forward. The earliest candle, from China in 200BC, literally enlightened the world. Fast forward through beeswax, tallow, spermacetti and paraffin. Then, made from a derivative of coal, the miracle of gas lighting changed the world again. In the 1840s, it was all the rage. Englishwoman’s Domestic Magazine recommended that [for parties] “you must close the shutters and draw the curtains, the better to show off [...]

In 1650, the British East India Company gambled on importing two new commodities found in China.  The first was tea, the second, porcelain wine ewers.  Because the ewers were breakable, they were packed for the long voyage inside the bales of tea.  The British, unaware that the Chinese steeped tea in individual cups, concluded that the bulbous ewers must be for tea preparation, despite the pesky problem of the leaves pouring out the spout.  Soon the first teapots, special porcelain ewers with an integral strainer at the base of the spout, were being ordered for export. The high cost of [...]

It’s only been in the past 50 years that the work of illustrators has been recognized as art. Even some artists themselves argued that the real art was the finished product, the print. As a result, no one handled an illustrator's work with any consideration for value or posterity.  Such a loss of creativity! Consider the craft of these earliest illustrators.  Before 1820, the artist covered a copper plate with wax, then carved the design onto the plate with a knife-like tool. Each illustration took 6-8 hours to complete and left the artist with bloodied fingers. After about 100 impressions the [...]

Let's consider the history of the unique turnings that adorn our popular studded leather cupboard-on-stand, shown above. Today they're called “barley twists”. Why? The answer lies in a recipe created in 1638 by French Benedictine monks. It involves boiling down cane sugar with barley water, then twisting the amber strands into candy. The result looks remarkably like these spiral twists. Used on tables, stands, even bedposts, the barley twist was a familiar feature in England during the late 17th and early 18th centuries, then revived again by Queen Victoria in the mid-to-late 1800s. While many cabinetmakers can create fine pieces with skilled [...]

It's time for holiday entertaining and imbibing. We have just what you need to do it in style.  Not that you can't use these pieces any time of year.  But, somehow, holiday festivities just seem to lend themselves to especially thoughtful presentations. Just having an incredible wine cellar isn’t enough. You need to serve those vintages with respect – and style. What’s the point of having a case of Sterling Vineyards 1978 Merlot if you don’t have a wonderful hammered wine bucket to showcase your bottle at the table? O.K., so maybe a case of '78 Merlot is a push for us, too.  You can still [...]

The first gas stove factory in England opened in 1836.  A gas stove was shown at London's World Fair in 1851, but no real inroads were made until the 1880s when piped gas was available in large towns in Britain. By that time, the price of gas was about 36 cents a month. What does the affordability of gas have to do with the beautiful copper pot in the photo?  Simple. Virtually overnight, cooking large quantities over a fire, or a coal stove, became a thing of the past, leaving substantial inventories of outsized, beautiful copper unused. Enter the log [...]

People love roasts. It’s not just the luxury of a meal prepared over a l-o-n-g cooking period, it’s the succulence, the tenderness and the aroma of a roast. At least those were the standards that Louis IX sought when he created the Confrerie de la Chaine des Rotisseurs (The Brotherhood of the Chain of the Roasters) in 1248. The French King was bragging, really. After all, he had access to prodigious amounts of meat – in big pieces suitable for roasting, and, he had plenty of fuel to keep the fires going for hours.  Neither of these excesses were enjoyed by commoners. Originally the technique of [...]

Herbs first were introduced into cooking not to flavor foods, but to disguise flavors.  Before refrigeration, frequently meat was served past its “freshness date”. Strong-smelling herbs worked hard to make what was on your plate palatable.  Phew! Aromatic dried herbs and flowers also were used to disguise human smells.  When bathing was to be tolerated only once or twice a year, the generous application of anything with a pleasant smell was considered a welcome corporeal addition.  Double phew! But the primary use for dried herbs was in medicines. One hundred - fifty years later, we’ve come full-circle.  Most recently the [...]

The great Mary Cantwell once wrote, “There is nothing better than the wind whistling at the windows and soup bubbling on the stove.”  She might have added ‘…and the glint of an old copper pot to keep you company.’ The science of copper is persuasive.  It conducts heat evenly and quickly – getting the contents up to temperature 20 times faster than stainless.  It doesn’t rust or corrode. And it is toxic to germs and bacteria. Historians at Colonial Williamsburg found that from the period of 1760 until 1810 it was common for cooks to load up a copper cauldron with [...]

Great Britain's Furniture Guilds have no equivalent in the United States. Created by the Statute of Apprentices in 1563 and continuing to this day, they are training grounds where skills are passed on, ensuring that age-old techniques are revered and not lost. To achieve the level of Master Craftsmen, Guilds require 7 years of dedicated learning - first as journeymen, then as apprentices.  This quality training is mirrored in the work that they do - including the selection of timber.  Fine, straight-grain is a criterion of mass-produced pieces (easier to match), but rarity and singularity are characteristics of state-of-the-art furnishings - like those crafted for Elijah Slocum.  [...]