Taken plate
Taken plates ("cover plates", from the Latin tegere = to cover, to cover) are cast iron plates that were built into a recess in the fire wall between the kitchen and living room in farmhouses until the 19th century as part of a Taken heater . They conducted the warmth of the open fire in the kitchen (over which the kettle hung) to the living room. In order to be able to regulate the heat better, a so-called take-up cupboard was placed in the opposite room, mostly in the living roomin front of the plate. This cupboard was often richly decorated and was an important ornament in the living room of wealthy farmers. In a widespread form, the cupboard had two doors at the top, including a rectangular compartment with a door and, at the bottom, in front of the take plate, again doors that were sometimes openwork. Dishes were stored behind the upper doors, and the rectangular compartment above the take plate was supposed to be used to keep food warm or to proof yeast dough . The heat supply into the living room could be regulated by opening or (partially) closing the lower doors. As a late 19th century stovesbecame common in the country and the open fire disappeared, the take plates lost their function. However, they were often kept in situ with the rack cabinets and were often only removed during modernizations after the Second World War. Many plates found a second use z. B. as a cover for cesspools, but they were soon sought by collectors and offered in antique shops. Taken plates usually have a transversely rectangular format and do not have a smooth edge like oven plates on the side . Nevertheless, they are often confused with these or with firebacks .
The tradition of Takenheiz is limited to a very limited geographical area. Taken plates were only produced in ironworks in the eastern Belgian province of Luxembourg , Lorraine , Luxembourg , the Eifel , the Hunsrück and today's Saarland . In the 17th and 18th centuries they were produced in the Dillinger Hütte . Other important huts were in Quint , now part of Trier , and in Weilerbach near Bollendorf .
The oldest known plates date from the late 15th century. Up until the French Revolution , the Taken and the stove plates related to them (and made in the same huts) mostly showed biblical or heraldic motifs, later also mythological or allegorical representations. The range of topics differs significantly between Catholic, Protestant and Jewish households. They are therefore also objects of folk art . Prints by well-known artists were often used as a template for the wooden models from which the panels were cast . Many models were used for decades, so that long outdated styles could last for a long time, and models that did not actually fit thematically or stylistically were often combined or damaged models simply continued to be used. In the late period of the Takenplatte casting, i.e. at the beginning of the 19th century, other objects were sometimes used as models, such as crucifixes or rosaries .
Today, Takenplatten are often used to beautify the interior and exterior of farms and houses and are sought-after objects in the collection, which is why replicas are often offered in the antique trade. These are not easy to recognize for the layman; One of the characteristics is often the lower thickness, and the reverse side usually lacks the characteristic traces that arise when smoothing the molten iron in the open mold.
Important exhibitions of Takenplatten can be found in the folklore and open-air museum Roscheider Hof in Konz , the iron museum Jünkerath , the city museum Simeonstift Trier , the national museum Luxembourg, the historical museum of the city of Luxembourg , the Museé Gaumais in Virton and the city hall of the city of Düsseldorf . Taken heaters can be seen in many farmhouse museums and open-air museums in the area around the Takenplatten.
literature
- Karlheinz von den Driesch: Handbook of the stove, fireplace and Taken plates in the Rhineland. Series of works and living. Folklore studies in the Rhineland (Volume 17). Cologne 1990.
- Sigrid Theisen: Mysterious Takenplatten. Artificial iron in the Simeonstift Municipal Museum. (Museum didactic guided tours 6), Trier 1982.
