Posted 13 years ago
antiquesan…
(1413 items)
This piece is called a Pan Iron ,I'm not sure if it is made of pewter or some type of metal, it has a wonderful design and some stones embedded on both sides , I don't know how old it is ,but it has a nice patina to the surface . The bottom has the pressed word china .
This is a Chinese pan iron. Pan irons are meant to be filled with hot sand or live coals and used to iron clothing.
Makes your plug in model look much more appealing, doesn't it? : -)
I'm not an expert by any means so I do not know if this is an original or a reproduction sold as a decorative object but the stones do not preclude utility as some pan irons were highly decorated and had bone, jade and ivory details.
Examples and more info can be found here:
http://www.antiqbuyer.com/All_Archives/IRONS_ARCHIVE/panirons.htm
Pan iron in use in a 12th century Chinese painting:
http://www.pitt.edu/~asian/week-10/TangFigure.jpg
Thank You Mawama Mama for that very interesting information!