Pitcher - Metal - Painted sheet metal

Neoclassical Painted Tôle Tap-Handled Urn / Tea Urn (ca. 1790–1815) – Provenance: Schloss Diepenbrock (Baron von Graes)

Authentic neoclassical tap-handled urn (bouilloire or hot-water urn), preserved in original condition, from the transition period between Louis XVI and Empire (circa 1790–1815). This representative table piece is made of painted and lacquered tinplate (tôle peinte) with cast-brass mounts, and has a documented aristocratic provenance from the German-Dutch border region.

Aristocratic provenance (Provenance) The old inventory labels have been preserved on the tap, bearing the inscriptions: "Barlo bei Bocholt / Baron von Graes" and, on the reverse, "Nr. 728 / Schloss Diepenbrock". Schloss Diepenbrock is a historic moated castle in Barlo (near Bocholt, just across the border from Aalten and Winterswijk). The estate came into the possession of the Westphalian noble family Freiherren von Graes zu Diepenbrock in 1731. This hot-water urn formed part of the castle’s historic household inventory under inventory number 728.

Design, technique and function The urn has a classic ovoid body on a slender trumpet-shaped foot, with a molded square base on four brass ball feet. The tinplate retains its original olive-green painted lacquer finish, embellished with fine vertical lines and subtle geometric border decorations.

The piece features:

Cast-brass moldings, ball feet and round side rosettes with hanging carrying rings.

A beautifully designed brass tap with a green-lacquered wooden/bone turning handle.

A tall domed lid with a vase-shaped brass finial.

A fully intact internal heating system based on the samovar principle: a vertical heating tube runs through the center of the water reservoir. The original wrought-iron grate is located at the bottom of the foot, alongside openwork ventilation slots in the trumpet-shaped foot and beneath the lid knob. By placing glowing charcoal or a heated cast-iron bar inside, the water could be kept hot for hours at the castle table.

Specifications

Object: Tap-handled urn / Tea urn / Bouilloire (Heißwasserurne)

Period: Louis XVI / Directoire / Empire, ca. 1790–1815

Origin: Westphalia / Western Europe (Provenance: Collection of Baron von Graes, Schloss Diepenbrock in Barlo, inv. no. 728 – from the Monasso Collection)

Material: Lacquered and painted tinplate (tôle peinte), cast and turned brass/bronze, wrought-iron bottom grate

Dimensions: Height approx. 47 cm

Condition In beautiful, honest and unrestored condition. Unlike many comparable objects from this period, this example has never been repainted; its original late 18th-/early 19th-century olive-green lacquer finish has been preserved and shows authentic age-related craquelure and light signs of use consistent with its age. Technically and visually complete, including the wrought-iron grate at the bottom of the foot and the original provenance labels.