ANDIRON (older

See also:

• FORM (Lat. forma)

form anderne; med.

See also:

• LAT

Lat. andena, anderia)  , a horizontal iron bar, or bars, upon which logs are laid for burning in an open fireplace . Andirons stand upon short legs and are usually connected with an upright guard . This guard, which may be of iron, steel, copper, bronze, or even silver, is often elaborately ornamented with conventional patterns or heraldic ornaments, such as the fleur-de-lys, with sphinxes, grotesque animals, mythological statuettes or caryatides supporting heroic figures or emblems . Previously to the Italian Renaissance, andirons were almost invariably made entirely of iron and comparatively plain, but when the ordinary objects of the house-hold became the care of the artist, the metal-worker lavished skill and taste upon them, and even such a man as Jean Brrain, whose fancy was most especially applied to the ornamentation of Boulle furniture, sometimes designed them . Indeed the fire-dog or chenet reached its most artistic development under Louis XIV. of France, and the first extant examples—often of cast-iron—are to be found in French museums and royal palaces . Fire-dogs, with little or no ornament, were also used in kitchens, with ratcheted uprights for the spits . Very often these uprights branched out into arms or hobs for stewing or keeping the viands hot .