Senlis? Bellows, wood, leather, 19th century // Anonymous,Fireplace screen, wood, wool, 19th century // Anonymous, Cooking pot, copper, 18th or 19th century

Fire has made it possible to cook and boil food in many different ways. Fire can also be used to smoke food to preserve it or to remove toxins with heat. The fireplace became an essential part of the home, so much so that in french the word hearth could also mean the home itself.

The fire needed for cooking became the hearth, the warm place where people gathered together. But fire can be dangerous too. If it is not carefully controlled, it can destroy the very home it is meant to warm. That is why people have always needed to control its power.

A fire screen is a piece of furniture designed to protect people from the direct heat of the fire. It also helps keep out cold draughts when the fire is not lit, while decorating the room. This screen has a walnut wood frame and feet, both decorated with carved scrolls. They surround a needlework tapestry panel. At its centre is a Tree of Life, watched over by a dragon. This fantastic, fire-breathing creature represents the power of fire.

The bellows are decorated with a large, grotesque face, or mascaron, combining human, animal and plant features. The bellows were part of a set of tools used to look after the fire, known as a fireplace tool set. It included a shovel for the ashes, tongs for the logs or coal, and sometimes a broom or a poker for the embers. The tools were kept beside the fireplace.

Cleaning the ashes and lighting the fire were usually the servants’ jobs. During the day, however, the head of the household might add logs to the fire in the living room to keep it burning.