A lead planter is a garden container made of cast or sheet lead, used to hold plants, shrubs or small trees. Forms include square and rectangular troughs, circular tubs, urns and large cisterns, many decorated with moulded panels, ribbing, figures, foliage, armorials or initials and dates.
Many lead planters began life as water cisterns, which were installed in English houses from the seventeenth century to collect rainwater and were often handsomely decorated with panels of strapwork, flowers or classical figures. When piped water made them redundant, many were moved into gardens and converted to planters. Lead garden ornaments of all kinds were fashionable in formal gardens of the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and were revived enthusiastically in the Edwardian period, when specialist firms produced high-quality planters and statues in historic styles. Lead weathers to a soft silvery-grey patina, sometimes with white oxidation, which is much admired. Because the metal is soft and heavy, old planters may show bulging, splits or sagging, and buyers should check seams and bases. Dates on cisterns are not always original, so the style and construction should be considered together. Lead planters suit formal terraces, courtyards and parterres.
