This is my "curfew". It is thought that the word originated with the Normans (covrefeu - cover fire). A bell was rung at a certain time of night as an order to cover or extinguish fires and take to bed. It is also the name of the item on the right used to cover the hearth over night.
I don't think I'm 100% happy with the finish of the curfew but the shape and scale are good. I'll be having a little think about that to see if I can improve on it.
The item on the left is a little tinder box. Heaven forbid if your fire went out, either through a soot fall or the arrival of the chimney sweep but it was necessary to get the fire going again as quickly as possible so a tinder box was a vital piece of equipment in any 17th century home. It contained a piece of moss, a stone and a flint.
It wasn't unheard of for renovations or demolitions of these old buildings to reveal skeletons of children stuck in chimneys. Sometimes the chimney sweep didn't wait for the actual fire to go out before sending the "boy" up. Illegitimacy and the death rate was so high that replacing him with one of the many orphans running around was never an issue!
Irene - thankyou!! More contemporary items to delight us!
ReplyDeleteI've seen pictures of medieval curfews made of pierced terracotta, but I didn't know that they were still in use so late.
A tinderbox is one of the things on my list to have in many early settings, they must have been essential everyday objects. I wonder how many other things there were that we no longer consider?
Pity the poor orphan boys!!
Que pena de niños!!!!
ReplyDeleteMe encanta tu idea y el resultado, queda genial!!
besitos ascension