Old antique French rustic wooden dairy mould butter pat press stamp with carved detail of holly for the festive table

A delightfully rustic old French hand-carved antique dairy butter mould with separate sides and carved base to impress the design into the pat.
This oval shaped mould would have been used in the dairy for forming the butter pats ready for the table once the butter was churned from milk, and the decoration would have been impressed into the block.
The construction is simple and quite primitive, the oval base has the carved design and underneath there are four recesses to take the brackets from the hinged side pieces. At one side a hand forged hook and rivet round head nail keeps the mould in place, once the butter has been chilled the hook is released and the hinges allow the mould to be removed. The base is carved with a design of holly leaves, stem and berries. This mould would have been used to prepare the butter pats for the festive table.
The sides are serrated or grooved to add decorative detail to the pat.
The timber is probably beech, it has been stained a dark brown, it shows signs of age and use but is in good condition overall. There is a smattering of old, dead worm holes, usual in French wooden items of some age.
Size approx Length 27cm, width 13cm, height 6.5cm.

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Our items are carefully selected antique and vintage pieces from France and they show the character and charm of years of use. We do not sell new or reproduction items so you can expect to find signs of the age and life that the piece has led. We believe this history adds to the story of an item. Obvious damage and faults will always be mentioned in our descriptions but minor age-related condition issues are not considered a detriment.