A superb and rare 19th century Welsh sycamore dough board from Carmarthenshire, and a very good example of kitchen treen - more of which below. Its time-worn surface has a wonderful smooth patina, and it would make an excellent communal serving platter for air dried ham, antipasto, breads, cheeses, and pickles; and when not in use, it looks great as a backdrop when propped up on the kitchen side.

History

Treen, "of a tree", is a generic name for small vintage and antique handmade functional household objects made of wood. Today, treen is highly collectable for its beautiful patina and tactile appeal. Before the advent of cheap metal wares in industrialized societies, and later, plastic, wood played a much greater part as the raw material for common objects. Turning and carving were the key manufacturing techniques. The selection of wood species was important, and close-grained native hardwoods such as box, beech and sycamore were particularly favoured, with occasional use of exotics, such as lignum vitae for mallet heads.

Anything from wooden plates, bowls, small boxes, spoons, shoehorns and chopping boards can be classed as treen, such as our wonderful breadboard offered here. Their strongly functional and undecorated forms are now highly regarded by designers and collectors. We love treen.

Year of manufacture: c.1920

Origin: Wales 

Material: sycamore

Diameter 43cm  Length 51cm Thickness 1.5cm

Condition: our board has been well used, and has fine knife marks and scuff marks,  and it also bears some historic scorch marks on its underside edge.  See image. However, this all adds to its patina, history and appeal.