• Hat stand

  M.22-1971 (Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A))

  

  Object Type A hatstand is an item of hall furniture with a number of pegs or arms attached to the upper half from which hats and coats can be hung. The lower half often had a rail and a removable tray at the base for storing umbrellas and walking sticks. Cast-iron furniture became popular in the 19th century. After the introduction of coke for smelting in iron manufacture in the mid-18th century, cast iron became cheaper and more widely available. It was also of sufficiently high quality to be used widely in architecture and decorative ironwork. Design & Designing The designer Christopher Dresser (1834-1904) distinguished between the different types of design suitable for wrought and cast iron. He regarded sinuous plant forms, some of which were influenced by Medieval, Byzantine and Middle Eastern sources, as appropriate for cast iron, which, when molten, can be poured into a mould. Such features on this hatstand include the acanthus scrolls at the base, which contrast with the more rigorous and geometrical patterns in the spandrels (curved arched supports). People In Britain the cast iron industry began to flourish from the 1770s onwards. Abraham Darby III (1750-1791) of the Coalbrookdale Company in Ironbridge, Shropshire, constructed the first cast-iron bridge in the world in 1779 to span the local river, the Severn. The family foundry became an established producer of a wide range of gates, grates and stoves and later furniture. By the 19th century the Coalbrookdale Company, which manufactured this hatstand, came to dominate the market, exporting its products all over the world.

  • Place made: Shropshire, England
  • Creator: Dresser, Christopher, born 04/07/1834 - died 24/11/1904 (designers) Coalbrookdale Company (manufacturer)
  • Date made: ca. 1880
  • Material: Cast iron, painted

• Travelling tea service

  M.39:1 to 21-1965 (Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A))

  

  Object Type In Japan, ravelling tea sets of this kind are associated with the cult of the tea ceremony. The tea ceremony usually takes place in a specially-built tea room, but there are times when it is practised in the open air as part of an outing to view cherry blossoms, the moon or maple leaves. It is on these occasions that tea sets like this are used. Time By the 19th century, when this set was made, the tea ceremony was practised by large numbers of Japanese. It was an elegant pastime, but no longer an elitist one, as it had been during the 16th and 17th centuries. Many 19th-century western collectors of Japanese art were dismissive of the often austere utensils used in the tea ceremony. This set, however, would have been appealing for its compactness of design and relatively ornate qualities. Christopher Dresser (1834-1904), who visited Japan in 1876, is known to have designed a travelling tea service influenced by Japanese prototypes. Use The contents of this tea set are different from what you would find in a western equivalent. This is because the Japanese tea ceremony involves the preparation and drinking not of steeped tea, but of finely powdered green tea and hot water whipped up in a tea bowl with a bamboo whisk.

  • Place made: Japan
  • Creator: Unknown
  • Date made: ca. 1800-1880
  • Material: (Box) Wood, gold lacquer and gold and silver kirikane (Kettle) Patinated copper (Saucepan) Silver gilt (Tea bowl) Stoneware, with grey glaze, incised (Whisk) Bamboo (Container) Cloisonné, with silk cloth (Tea caddy) Pewter (Stand) Iron (Scoop) Wood

• Sphere

  000-100-104-184-C (National Museums of Scotland)

  

  Copper sphere on an iron stand, for experiments on water under pressure, by Kemp and Co., Edinburgh, c. 1880

  • Place made: Scotland, Midlothian, Edinburgh | NT 275 735
  • Creator: Kemp and Co., Edinburgh (Maker)
  • Date made: Around 1880 c. 1880
  • Material: Copper; iron stand

• Sphere (detail)

  000-190-002-252-C (National Museums of Scotland)

  

  Copper sphere on an iron stand, for experiments on water under pressure, by Kemp and Co., Edinburgh, c. 1880

  • Place made: Scotland, Midlothian, Edinburgh | NT 275 735
  • Creator: Kemp and Co., Edinburgh (Maker)
  • Date made: Around 1880 c. 1880
  • Material: Copper; iron stand