posted on October 10, 2008 07:41:31 AM
Hi, all: I have a collector's book of ceramics with Veilleuses in the title. Only translation I could find is that it means "night lights." I've tried 3 different translation sites, and only one came up with a definition. The book itself doesn't give the translation, even though it's in English, and I see no clues in it, either.
posted on October 10, 2008 07:46:04 AM
–noun, plural veil·leuses French Furniture.
a sofa having a low and a high end, with a back that slopes from one end to the other.
[Origin: < F: lit., watcher (opposed to sleeper), equiv. to veill(er) to watch (< L vigilāre; see vigil) + -euse -euse]
Another source says ceramic food and tea warmers?
[ edited by pixiamom on Oct 10, 2008 07:47 AM ]
posted on October 10, 2008 07:59:47 AM
I think Veilleuses does mean night light. I found information on Veilleuse-THeieres which are night light teapots:
World’s Largest Teapot Collection - 525 Teapots
These teapots are special night light teapots know as Veilleuse-Theieres. The earliest veilleuses were made as food warmers with a bowl instead of a teapot on a stand. They were used for porridge and soup, and used in hospitals for patients. Later the teapot replaced the bowl and the
Veilleuse-Theieres came into use. They were used mainly for brewing and serving herb teas primarily to babies at night, and also provided light for babies throughout the night.
It all started with a difficult birth in the early 1900s in New York City. That’s where Trenton-born OBGYN Dr. Frederick C. Freed delivered a child to a woman from France. So thankful was the new mother for Freed’s care that she determined to bring him a gift on her next trip home. Thinking it appropriate given his profession, she gave Freed a Porcelain Veilleuse-Theieres, which translates literally to “night-light teapots.” Made of three distinct operating parts, the “teapots” were used in their day as medicinal vaporizers for new mothers and newborn babies and to brew tea for babies as well as for attending nurses during long nights as they cared for mother and child.
They also helped to light up a room. How decorative the teapot was depended on the level of affluence a family had achieved.
That appropriate gift for Freed quickly became a collection obsession. The physician, born in Trenton
in 1889, was also a world traveler, and immediately began seeking out new teapots to purchase on his trips. Over the next 35 years, Freed collected over 600
teapots from 40 different countries, all of them dated between 1750 to 1860.
All of the teapots in the collection have a handle and spout, though many are well camouflaged. Each also has a godet, or small cup that holds fuel. Some look like standard teapots while others resemble architec-
tural structures, animals or even grotesque forms.
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