“Apart from collecting treen for its own sake, the study of it should give those interested in folklore and history much of interest and delight, presenting as it does some fascinating side lights on the manners and habits of our ancestors. “ Treen and Other Turned Woodenware for Collectors”, Jane Toller, 1975
“To understand treen, one must visualize the ways of living and daily habits of these who used it.” “Early American Wooden Ware”, Mary Earle Gould, 1942
Although both authors were referring to English or Colonial treen, the statements would also be applicable to the Native Americans.
I think it is safe to say that any culture that had trees available made some form of treen. What makes North American burl treen significant? To some it is art, to some an antique, and to some an artifact.
To me, it is also the product of the coming together and blending of two cultures, each having their own tradition in the manufacture and use of treen. And the way the individual craftsmen of each of the cultures responded to this coming together.
When the first Europeans came to the New World they brought with them a long tradition of making and using treen. Prior to the 17th century, wooden ware for the table was the standard in Europe for all but the wealthy. Nearly all was lathe turned and the history of this early European industry is quite interesting.
There have been extensive studies of European treen, especially English. They show us how as society evolved, refinement of treen followed. Later pieces becoming more ornate, some embellished with precious metals. Gradually, European treen was replaced by more modern materials, pewter, glass, porcelain, and mass produced products.
Relatively little burl was used in European treen. Perhaps because the original forests of Europe, which may have contained burl, had long been depleted. When burl was used, it was usually reserved for higher end pieces.
Following in their European heritage, the tables of most early Colonial homes were set exclusively with treen or treen in combination with objects of another material, such as pewter.
I have found very little documentation on the manufacture of Colonial treen from this period. While some treen would have been brought to the New World from the Colonist homelands, the vast quantities required for the growing population and immediate need would have soon necessitated manufacture within the Colonies. And almost certainly it would have had many similarities to treen manufacture in Europe.
This is a topic and period of great interest to me, which I hope to study more thoroughly.
In the New World, during the period of early colonization, the Europeans found that the Native Americans had their own tradition for treen. Similar in some ways to their own because of function: bowls, ladles, spoons, etc., but of a completely different type of manufacture.
In Europe the pole lathe had been in use for centuries and, as stated earlier, nearly all European treen was turned. The Native Americans did not have the lathe or metal edged tools. Their pieces were made by burning/charring and scraping, and by hewing and carving with stone tools and perhaps bones and beaver teeth.
As the two cultures were clashing on many fronts, these two traditions of treen were meshing. At some unknown time, some unknown Colonist noticed that in addition to making treen from straight grained-wood, the Native Americans also used a peculiar type of wood. Did it take a craftsman to notice?
And at sometime during this period a Native American craftsman acquired a metal edged tool.
Although we can only speculate as to how the first exchanges occurred, we know the result was that the Native American method of treen manufacture and likely their finished products changed.
And that the Colonist obtained burl and thus the opportunity to take their treen to a new level.
