If you were to ask me to list the antiques most specific to the Netherlands, Delft pottery and the quintessential Dutch foot warmer (or stoof) would certainly be up there.
This stoof is really rather special, fashioned in solid oak with lovely subtle figuring and medullary rays, being especially unusual due to the oval shape and curvy carved sides, as foot warmers were typically rather boxy. Eight perimeter holes and one central hole function as vents in the solid oak top, with one lovely clean split where countless decades of heat caused the timber to dry and shift. The front can be found as a gaping opening where the earthenware handled vessel sits, its job being to hold the hot coals that were essential to the function of a stoof.
Amazing aging can be seen to the aforementioned opening, where the unusual shape of the vessel slowly but surely wore away the edges of the oak forming a perfect silhouette to frame the pot as it was removed and replaced countless times.
For its age, this is in exceptional condition and a piece that could tell a thousand stories, and such an unusual example too. Particularly special for collectors of such artefacts, but also incredibly well made and designed - the ways this can be repurposed in the modern age are countless, especially in the kitchen for example.
