{"product_id":"rectangular-wire-basket-with-pressed-sheet-metal-fretwork-end-panels-twisted-rope-wire-rims-verdigris-patina-c-1950-1990","title":"Rectangular Wire Basket with Pressed Sheet-Metal Fretwork End Panels, Twisted Rope Wire Rims, Verdigris Patina, c. 1900–1925","description":"  \u003ch3\u003eThe Piece\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA rectangular wire basket, open-topped, built from three different kinds of metalwork in one object.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe \u003cstrong\u003erims are twisted rope wire\u003c\/strong\u003e — two strands wound around each other into a spiral cable — and there are two of them, one framing the mouth and a second running around the base, so the basket is braced at both ends of its height rather than only at the top.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBetween them run \u003cstrong\u003eplain vertical wire uprights\u003c\/strong\u003e, and the floor is laid in \u003cstrong\u003eparallel wire slats\u003c\/strong\u003e, spaced so the basket drains and breathes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe two ends are where it stops being a plain basket. Set into each is a \u003cstrong\u003epanel of pierced sheet metal fretwork\u003c\/strong\u003e, cut through in a repeating pattern of \u003cstrong\u003eturned balusters standing under a run of arches\u003c\/strong\u003e, the whole panel closed top and bottom by a narrow ribbed border.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe finish is silver-toned, and it has aged: the raised surfaces have gone soft and grey while \u003cstrong\u003egreen verdigris has settled into the recesses\u003c\/strong\u003e of the fretwork and the twists of the rope wire.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eHistory \u0026amp; Provenance\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe fretwork panels are pressed, not cast and not hand-pierced, and that is the single most useful thing about this basket.\u003c\/strong\u003e Look at the edges of the cut-outs and they are clean, square and identical, and the ribbed borders are struck in relief rather than applied. That is a die working on thin sheet metal: the panel was stamped out in one hit.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhy it matters is that it dates the panel to the machine that made it. Stamping presses were turning out pierced sheet ornament of exactly this kind from the 1870s onward, and pressed fretwork became the standard decorative treatment on household wireware for the next half-century — jardinière stands, bottle carriers, cutlery trays, letter racks. It is a period technology, not a modern one. What the pressing rules out is hand-pierced tinwork, where the chisel walks visibly along the line and no two openings match, and casting, which leaves thickness, draft and a rough reverse.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe baluster-under-arcade pattern is borrowed, and knowingly so.\u003c\/strong\u003e A row of turned balusters beneath a run of arches is architectural vocabulary — a balustrade, the sort that edges a terrace or a stair — and it has been a stock decorative motif on metalwork, garden furniture and giftware for well over a century. Its presence tells you what the basket was styled to evoke. It does not date it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe verdigris is real and it is informative.\u003c\/strong\u003e Green corrosion of this kind forms on copper, and it means there is copper in the finish — a plated or washed coating over a steel or iron core — slowly oxidising in air and moisture. It takes years to build up the way it has here, settling into the low points where it is not rubbed away by handling. It is also the reason the piece has not simply gone to red rust: the copper layer has been doing its job.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBaskets of this construction were made for the household and garden trade in very large numbers, on both sides of the Atlantic, and were sold for everything from bread and fruit to letters, cutlery and plants. The \u003cstrong\u003ebasket carries no maker's stamp, no impressed mark, no country-of-origin stamp and no surviving label\u003c\/strong\u003e anywhere on the frame, the panels or the base, and is offered \u003cstrong\u003eunattributed and of unstated origin\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDated on the construction — pressed sheet panels of the period stamping trade, machine-twisted rope wire, and a copper-bearing plated finish rather than the nickel, chrome or lacquered steel that replaced it: \u003cstrong\u003ec. 1900–1925\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eProduct Details\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003ctable border=\"1\" cellpadding=\"8\" cellspacing=\"0\" style=\"width:100%; border-collapse:collapse;\"\u003e\n  \u003cthead\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003cth align=\"left\" style=\"text-align:left; vertical-align:top;\"\u003eField\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003cth align=\"left\" style=\"text-align:left; vertical-align:top;\"\u003eDetail\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\u003c\/thead\u003e\n  \u003ctbody\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eObject\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eRectangular open wire basket with decorative fretwork end panels\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eConstruction\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eTwisted rope wire rims to both the mouth and the base, plain wire uprights, and an open slatted wire floor\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eDecoration\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eTwo pressed sheet-metal panels, pierced with a repeating baluster-under-arcade pattern within struck ribbed borders, set into the short ends\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eMaterial\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eSteel or iron wire and sheet with a silver-toned copper-bearing plated finish\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003ePatina\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eSoft grey on the raised surfaces with green verdigris settled into the fretwork recesses and the wire twists — genuine age, not applied\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eMarks\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eNone. No maker's stamp, country-of-origin mark or label. Offered unattributed.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eEra\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003ec. 1900–1925. Dated on the pressed sheet fretwork, the machine-twisted rope wire and the copper-bearing plated finish beneath the verdigris; the baluster motif is older still and carries no date of its own.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eCondition\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eVery good and structurally sound. The frame is rigid and sits flat with no racking or wobble, both rope wire rims are continuous and tight, every upright and floor slat is present and attached, and both fretwork panels are complete with no torn, bent-back or missing sections. \u003cstrong\u003eExpect the full grey-and-verdigris patina throughout\u003c\/strong\u003e, which is the character of the piece — along with light finish loss on the high points and handled edges, small scattered darkening, and a few points of surface oxidation. No structural rust, no perforation, no breaks, no repairs and no resoldered joints. Condition Guaranteed.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eAvailability\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eOne of a Kind — 1 Available\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n  \u003c\/tbody\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWhy It Belongs in Your Home\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAn open basket is one of the genuinely useful objects, because it makes a pile of things look deliberate.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn a kitchen it takes onions, garlic and shallots — the slatted floor and open ends are exactly what root vegetables want, which is air — or bread under a cloth, or lemons, or the tea towels. On a hall table it swallows post, keys, sunglasses and the things that otherwise colonise a surface. In a bathroom it holds rolled towels or soaps. Beside a chair it takes magazines.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt is also a good planter if you line it. Drop in moss, a coir liner or a shallow tray and it will hold pots of herbs, paperwhites, or a low arrangement, and the drainage takes care of itself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe reason to choose this one over a plain wire basket is the two end panels. Silver-grey metal with green sunk into the pattern is a quiet, complicated colour, and it does something that new metalware cannot: from across a room it reads as a plain basket, and up close it turns out to have architecture cut into it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA note on care, because the patina is the value and it is easy to destroy. \u003cstrong\u003eDo not polish it, do not use metal polish or a wire brush, and do not run it through a dishwasher.\u003c\/strong\u003e Any of those will strip the verdigris out of the recesses in one pass and leave a bright, characterless frame that cannot be undone.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDust it with a dry brush — an old paintbrush gets into the fretwork better than a cloth. If it needs more, wipe it with a barely damp cloth and dry it immediately and thoroughly, working the water out of the wire twists where it likes to sit.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eKeep it out of standing water and off wet surfaces, since the core beneath the plating is steel and will rust where the finish has worn through. If you use it for produce or plants, put a liner or a tray in first, and lift it off furniture with felt pads so the base wire does not mark a polished top.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Viridian Eclection","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48039810007145,"sku":"VE-0700","price":120.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0651\/0093\/9369\/files\/7FAE906E-3C99-41B6-BACA-80805A5F6BB9.jpg?v=1789118258","url":"https:\/\/viridianeclection.com\/products\/rectangular-wire-basket-with-pressed-sheet-metal-fretwork-end-panels-twisted-rope-wire-rims-verdigris-patina-c-1950-1990","provider":"Viridian Eclection","version":"1.0","type":"link"}