Name/Title
Pie Safe (Loan)Entry/Object ID
L2018.13.1Description
Four-door wooden pie safe with copper inserts. The inserts have decorative punctures marks, and the front two inserts have an "s" pierced into them. The structure has four shelves—three interior and one exterior—and the top right door has a keyhole for a lock. There are several closed hooks on the inside extending from the top of the safe.
On Loan from Private Collection.Use
Used to keep food safe from insects and rodents, wooden pie safes were often built on tall legs or designed to hang from the ceiling. Characterized by two front doors and pierced tin panels, a pie safe also provided ventilation for the food stored inside and brought visual interest to the room. The reproduction copper plates on this safe were crafted and installed by the lender’s father in the mid- to late 1900s.Context
Likely introduced to the Pennsylvania area by German immigrants in the 1700s, pie safes remained a common staple in white households until the rise of the icebox at the end of the nineteenth century. While enslaved cooks were often responsible for filling their enslavers’ pie safes in the antebellum South, they were not permitted to enjoy the desserts and often stored their own meagre rations in vegetable gourds.Made/Created
Date made
circa 1850 - circa 1900Dimensions
Height
69 inWidth
26 inLength
51 in
