Sheffield spirit kettle

Shared by Katherine Mansfield House & Garden

A spirit kettle is a silver teapot or kettle that sits upon a stand and has a burner beneath it. It is aptly named 'spirit' kettle because the burner often used spirits to fuel a flame. The earliest reference to a spirit kettle is in the year 1687, yet rose in popularity during the reign of Queen Anne. During this time these extravagant kettles became an indispensable accessory to any elaborate formal tea party. The reason behind this is not just the aesthetic appearance of the antique silver; which was usually highly ornate and decorative, nor was it that some spirit kettles matched the overall design of the tea set; which was often the case. It was instead that the spirit kettle served a very utilitarian purpose, and they were originally used to replenish the teapots when brewing tea. Teapots at this time were usually rather small, due to the luxurious and expensive nature of tealeaves, thus the teapot often needed to be refilled. It would seem that the spirit kettle fell into disfavour around 1770, due to the introduction of the tea urn (often referred to as a samovar). Tea urns were used for the same purposes as the spirit kettle, to warm water in order to replenish water in the teapot. The tea urn is fitted with a tap at the bottom of the body and stands on a base. It was in the Victorian era when spirit kettles were reintroduced and this resurgence was possibly due to the discovery of odourless spirits for the burner. (Information from acsilver.co.uk)