Utensils that are carved to practical perfection - Treen

Treen can be a fascinating collectible for people who appreciate wood. A term used to describe any object made of wood, treen is usually functional rather than decorative and is either wholly or partly the product of a turner.

According to Mr Mark Stephen, head of the works of art department at Sotheby's in West Sussex, "treen" comes from the word "tree". It includes items such as dairy bowls, drinking cups, smoking related pieces, wooden platters, pestles and mortars, coffee grinders or old wooden carved nutcrackers.

"It's not really religious wood carving. It's functional, domestic utensils," he says.

Treen also specifically includes Irish drinking cups called methers (from the Irish, meader) and piggins, which are large wood turned vessels. According to a spokesperson for the National Museum of Ireland, methers come in various shapes, but are usually rectangular and can be two-handled or four-handled. A couple of methers are on display at Collins Barracks, while a new exhibition on medieval Ireland due to open next spring will include a selection of the utensils.

Ms Clodagh Doyle, curator in the Irish folk life collection at the National Museum of Ireland, says piggins could be up to 30 centimetres high. Used for carrying milk, they usually had one handle and were used between 1850 and the early 20th century.

Mr Stephen says that treen can be dated on stylistic grounds, sometimes by comparing it with silver shapes dated by their hallmark. Knowing domestic history can also date treen, by knowing when certain objects were in use. It can also be dated by the colour and pattern of the wood or by the type of wood used.

As to determining values, these vary considerably. "Every piece is individual. It's all hand-carved. It depends on the quality of the carving, the date of the piece and the colour and appeal of the wood. Really, you should be hoping that something you turn up is 17th or 18th century as opposed to 19th. There are lots of little wooden trinket boxes from the 19th century not worth very much - £10 or £20. If they're from the 18th century they jump up a lot more."

A collection of 70 lots of treen to be auctioned at Sotheby's on September 12th and 14th next is expected to fetch in the region of £20,000 to £35,000 sterling. For instance, a small sycamore spice pot and cover, circa 1680, described as having a wonderfully rich colour, is estimated at £300 to £500, as is a sycamore grinder mortar (a tall cylindrical mortar where the pestle has a metal grated end) of the same date.

Drinking cups, including cups made of fruitwood and yew, range in estimate from £150 to £400.

Wood mortars in varying sizes dating from the 17th and 18th centuries are featured in the auction, including an unusual 18th century lignum vitae example - a hard, dense-coloured wood from the West Indies, favoured by wood turners for not splitting or leaking - estimated at between £400 and £600.

Other items include a cedar wood chalice, which is expected to fetch £1,000 to £1,500 and a pair of laburnum candlesticks from the first half of the 19th century, estimated at between £500 and £800.

A large 17th century wassail bowl (a large communal festive drinking bowl, used with dipper cups, "wassail" being derived from the Old English woes hal, meaning Be Well) is estimated at from £3,000 to £5,000. A miniature version of the wassail bowl from about the same date is estimated at £300 to £500.

The auction also includes 18th century rushlights, which held rushes which were burnt by people who couldn't afford candles, "which was quite a lot of people in the 18th and 19th centuries", (estimate: £200 to £300 each) and an 18th century lignum vitae spice grinder (estimate: £800 to £1,200).

jmarms@irish-times.ie