Beautiful 19th C. Smoke Decorated Lidded Storage Tin with Handles cultivator I find it a wonderful

I find it a wonderful mix of warm and tender and humble and proud--and of course I read all sorts of things into that face (looks a bit as if she's holding a secret to me

a symbol of peace and also the Holy Spirit

enhanced by strips of darker wood

I grabbed these for the beautifully papered box

Beautiful 19th C. Smoke Decorated Lidded Storage Tin with Handles cultivator I find it a wonderfulA friend and fellow antiques dealer was expressing to me just the other day his enamourment with smoke decorated objects; I must admit I'd never paid super close attention, but then came across this tin and I must say I'm smitten. Smoke decorating, or smoke painting, became popular in the late 18th century and was used well into the 19th, done by manipulating a sooty candle over the surface of a newly painted object, still wet, to produce various