Treen for the Table

Concentrating on pieces of treen related to eating and drinking, this book celebrates the range and richness of the turner’s art from 1600 to 1900. It covers a wide range of objects for everyday use – goblets to nutcrackers, platters to lemon squeezers, and wassail bowls to egg cups. The book discusses the work of the “jobbing” village turner or “bodger”, the skilled craftsman’s workshop and the grand Court turner producing complex rose engine turning. It illustrates pieces only to be found in museums and examples you can find today in local antiques markets or fairs. Information is given on where treen may be seen and found and there is practical advice on pitfalls for the collector, dating and cleaning, as well as a chapter dealing with surfaces and patina and one asking for reader’s help in identifying the purpose of some curious objects.