Skewer Rack

Dateca.1750-1830

MediumWrought iron

DimensionsOverall: 1 1/2 x 5 1/4 x 4in. (3.8 x 13.3 x 10.2cm)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1933-392

DescriptionWrought iron skewer rack with openwork heart-shaped top which serves as hanger. Rectangular body with bulging sides, divided at base to form a pair of rams' horn hooks, set perpendicular to the body at either side.

Label TextRoasted meat and foul was as central to the diet of the early American as it is today. One of the preferred ways to cook a piece of meat or a bird was to turn it in front of an open fire, much like a rotisserie. Regardless if the food was being turned by hand, cranked by machine or set in a reflect open, it first had to be impaled on a spit. These long iron rods were pointy at one end, had a provision for being turned at the other, and a number of rectangular openings punched through it along their length. Skewers were smaller iron implements which were thrust through the food, and the openings in the spit, to secure it whatever was being cooked. A set of skewers, often of various sizes, were kept by the hearth suspended from a rack like this one when not in use.
ProvenanceMrs. Miles White, Jr., Baltimore, MD

Exhibition(s)