Model of a stove

Description

Stoves for private houses in the Biedermeier period were typically cylindrical, fluted and made of white or ivory coloured faience bound by brass rings. This ceramic quality led to their being called, inaccurately, 'Wedgwood' stoves. Cylindrical stoves of sea green or turquoise in fact produced in Switzerland matched the often strong shades of the self coloured Biedermeier wall coverings (as opposed to the striped wallpaper of the same period that was a revival of a Louis XVI style). This model is attributed to the Kleinbasel stove potter Walter Böcklin Müller. The ceramic exterior is made of two vertical sections. The interior is constructed of sheet iron and brass and comprises a lower chamber for the fire, with a flue at the back, and an upper chamber for keeping water or food warm.