tools of the trade

watercolours of metalwork from the Biedermeier period

Book Summary

This meticulously drawn folio of watercolours produced in the early nineteenth century shows that the Rhineland metal trades were clearly inspired by the ingenuity and success of British manufacturers in Birmingham and Sheffield. Whilst the Biedermeier period household would have procured its high style objects from France, its everyday needs for the kitchen and workshop could now be supplied locally from the growing local metalwork trades. This book stands as a fascinating historical insight to the homes and workshops of this age with representations of everyday objects, from coffee grinders and knives to the more sinister cast-iron mantraps for capturing prowlers or poachers.

These striking works of art reveal not only the design process but also the finished object in a series of watercolour and gouache renderings, carefully painted onto early nineteenth century watermarked paper. Records of such objects are rare, and in our age of mass production they can finally take their place alongside the treasured collections of designs for refined luxury goods.