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Fireset
Fireset
Fireset
DepartmentHistoric House

Fireset

Datecirca 1918
Mediumsilver, silvered brass and iron
DimensionsSee Individual Components
Credit LineReynolda Estate
Object number1922.2.55a-f
DescriptionThe fireset consists of a stand with four tools. The stand for a fire set was made with an iron standard topped by a tall elaborately molded silver finial of inverted baluster form covered in acanthus leaves with a gadrooned silver knob at the top. Two curved silver arms below were each finished with a cluster of acanthus leaves. The iron standard is supported by a hemispherical silver tray with ogee molded sides on three gadrooned bun feet. The detachable grate is molded with a grid to hold cinders for easy removal. The tongs for a fire set are iron with a silver handle of inverted baluster form covered in acanthus leaves above a straight shaft with a gadrooned knob finial. The shovel for a fire set has a generous rectangular shovel with a long iron shaft ending in a silver handle of inverted baluster form covered in acanthus leaves above a short columnar shaft with a gadrooned knob finial. The brush for a fire set has a rectangular domed brush holder housing generous bristles and joined with a long iron shaft to a silver handle of inverted baluster form covered in acanthus leaves above a short columnar shaft with a hook and ending in a gadrooned knob finial. The forked poker for a fire set has a long iron shaft to a silver handle of inverted baluster form covered in acanthus leaves above a columnar shaft and ending in a gadrooned knob finial.
ProvenanceFrom 1964
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC, acquired in 1964. [1]

Notes:
[1] In the early 1960s Charles H. Babcock (1899-1967) gave the house and its contents to the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation. The house was then incorporated as a museum and collection (Reynolda House, Inc.) on December 18, 1964 with the signing of the charter at its first board meeting. The museum first opened to the public in September 1965.
Status
On view