19 March 2012

A true "lanthorn"


This one was made by a modern tinsmith, but the construction is in the traditional manner, encasing the candle in a metal cylinder, and letting the light out through a window made of animal horn (typically slaughtered cattle, whose horns were hydrated, heated, flattened and sliced).  Mica would be a mineral alternative, but this fabrication shows the origin of the "horn" in "lanthorn."

I found this one at the website of the Cooperstown Tinker Shop.

1 comment:

  1. Iteresting! I never knew that. We are so ignorant of the links to the past....

    ReplyDelete