Toleware is decorative painted and lacquered sheet metal, usually tinplate or thin iron, made into domestic objects such as trays, coffee pots, tea caddies, coal boxes, candlesticks, lamps, planters and chestnut urns. The name derives from the French tôle peinte, meaning painted sheet iron.
The technique was developed in Britain in the early eighteenth century, notably at Pontypool in Wales and later at Usk, where a hard, glossy black or tortoiseshell lacquer was applied over tinned iron and decorated with gilding and painted designs. Similar wares, often called japanned ware, were produced in large quantities in Wolverhampton and Birmingham, while French workshops made elegant tôle in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, including painted chestnut urns and lamps. In America, painted tinware was a popular folk art. Typical decoration includes flowers, fruit, birds, chinoiserie and classical scenes on black, red, green or cream grounds. Collectors look for original paint and gilding, good-quality decoration and limited rust or flaking, since repainting is common and lowers value. Toleware trays and planters bring colour and a lively decorative touch to kitchens, dining rooms and conservatories.
