Andiron

  • Category:

    Metals

  • Creator (Role):

    William Homes Webb (Maker)

  • Place of Origin:

    Warren, Knox, Maine, New England, United States, North America

  • Date:

    1820-1840

  • Materials:

    Brass; Iron

  • Techniques:

    Wrought, Cast

  • Museum Object Number:

    2014.0050.001


  • Complete Details



Object Number

2014.0050.001

Object Name

Andiron

Category

Metals

Credit Line/Donor

Gift of the children of Richard LeBaron Bowen, Jr.

Creator (Role)

William Homes Webb (Maker)
1773-1868

Place of Origin

Warren, Knox, Maine, New England, United States, North America

Date

1820-1840

Mark or Signature or Inscription or Label

1. Mark; Brass plate on billet bar, encircling log stopper; "W.H. WEBB." stamped incuse in a semi-circle

Materials

Brass; Iron

Techniques

Wrought, Cast

Dimensions (inches)

13 (H) , 18.25 (L) , 10.5 (W)

Dimensions (centimeters)

33.02 (H) , 46.355 (L) , 26.67 (W)

Object Description

Web - 11/26/2014

One of a pair of andirons in the so-called cannon ball form with two cast brass sections above single-cast cabriole legs terminating in pointed pad feet. The components are all peened together with an internal iron rod that also secures the rectungular iron billet bar and log stoppers in place. Stamped into the brass plate fitted to the top of the billet bar and curving around the base of the brass log stopper is the maker's name: "W.H. WEBB." William Homes Webb’s father, Barnabas Webb, was a goldsmith who in 1759 married Mary Homes, the daughter of a goldsmith (William Homes Sr.). William H. Webb was born in Boston and trained there, but his parents moved to Thomaston, Maine, and William migrated there after his father’s death. By 1800 Webb settled in the town of Warren, in Knox County. There he established a brass foundry to produce brass and iron implements for lighting and cooking, buckles, harnesses and horse ornament, ship fittings and other hardware. Not long after his 1802 marriage to Anna Sides of Waldoborough, Massachusetts, he journeyed for almost two years to England (1803-05), studying and perhaps working in brass foundries in Birmingham. When he returned, Webb competed with and also supplied, Boston’s brass founders with items to help satisfy the region’s patrons. He is listed in the 1850 Federal Census with a brass foundry valued at $1,300. This pair of andirons, with distinctive casting patterns and a sliding iron stopper on the billet bar is comparable to the sets being marked by John Molineux in Boston in the early 1800s.