Cauldrons

Metal vessels for cooking food. The larger one is made of beaten copper with an iron handle for hanging it over the hearth. The manufacturer's name is shown on the edge holding the handle: Dámaso Lazarraga, from Bilbao La Vieja (Bizkaia). The smaller one is a cast iron pot to which a pair of C-shaped iron handles have been added.

Iron was the principal raw material in Bizkaia from Roman times, and formed the basis of the industrial boom of the nineteenth century. The first Basque foundry was in Santa Ana de Bolueta, close to Bilbao, built in 1841 on the site of a fifteenth century forge. Among many other activities, it produced kitchen vessels. Copperworking has also been documented from the Middle Ages to the end of the twentieth century in Bizkaia, especially in the Encartaciones region.

Both pieces are from the J. Etxeberria collection in the Provincial Government of Gipuzkoa.

Bibliography:

Alonso Olea, Eduardo J. Bolueta : una encrucijada de caminos en el espacio y en el tiempo. In: Bilbao y sus barrios: una mirada desde la historia. Bilbao: Ayuntamiento de Bilbao, 2008. 173-198

http://www.euskomedia.org/aunamendi/127556