Vintage Brass Ladle with Wrought hot Iron Hanging Handle & Hook

Few colonial kitchens had bake ovens. They had Dutch ovens, heavy cast-iron pots with little hot feet for settling into a bank of coals. A rimmed lid held coals on top. The Dutch oven shows us how hearths were used. The back was for maintaining the fire and generating coals to be raked out into piles to heat ovens or pans.

Some kitchens have grates in the hearth to hold pots. In others, Kettles & Ladles swing over the flames from a crane or dangle from an iron trammel bar in the chimney. *

Food preparation, in colonial times, an age celebrated for style and surface, required training and skills. It also required the proper tools. For preparing the hearty stews and soups, chief among these were the brass ladles typically found hung by the cooking hearth within an arms reach.

This Vintage Brass Ladle was recovered from a Williamsburg Estate where it resided for several decades. We attempted to sort out its provenance beyond a doubt that but have not been entirely successful in doing so.


It is a beautifully preserved handmade piece with a brass bowl and a detailed wrought iron handle. In any kitchen or fireplace setting it is a fetching artifact (see pictures).

The ladle measures 21.5"L x 6.75"W x 3"D.