11-09-2016, 08:07 AM
Samovars usually have handles, broader bellies, and four feet (when they have feet), which isn't quite how the VMS containers are drawn, but the context of cooking fits better than many other suggestions.
It's hard to know whether the containers are meant to be literal or are fanciful ideas for containers/candlesticks taken from other similarly shaped items. Many things are shaped this way but I've never seen anything in a museum or antique store that quite matches them.
Apothecary jars have probably been suggested (it's a logical line of thought) but they tend to be very utilitarian, with firmer bases, so they don't tip over and break when in constant use, as they would be in a pharmarcy. Nonetheless, a few are somewhat decorative and, if inspired by and combined with visual ideas from other items such as pillars, candlesticks, glass containers (e.g., Murano or southwest Mediterranean), they might be depicted in a more fanciful way. Glass goblets could be quite ornate and often had lids.
I've also thought that some of them look like architectural finials and others look very much like hookahs without the spout/hose.
It's hard to know whether the containers are meant to be literal or are fanciful ideas for containers/candlesticks taken from other similarly shaped items. Many things are shaped this way but I've never seen anything in a museum or antique store that quite matches them.
Apothecary jars have probably been suggested (it's a logical line of thought) but they tend to be very utilitarian, with firmer bases, so they don't tip over and break when in constant use, as they would be in a pharmarcy. Nonetheless, a few are somewhat decorative and, if inspired by and combined with visual ideas from other items such as pillars, candlesticks, glass containers (e.g., Murano or southwest Mediterranean), they might be depicted in a more fanciful way. Glass goblets could be quite ornate and often had lids.
I've also thought that some of them look like architectural finials and others look very much like hookahs without the spout/hose.