Found in depot: Abraham’s jenever keg

It’s a bit of a curious thing; with oak staves it looks like one barrel, but it contains two porcelain reservoirs that are covered by glass panes as barrel bottoms into which a tap is inserted. When you tap a glass, the level of the drink can be clearly seen, that was apparently the idea. The vessel is nicely executed with silver-plated fittings and polished oak and it would not have looked out of place in the ‘mini bar’ of a gentleman’s room. The loose trestle turned out to be upside down in the depot, so that the keg might not roll away. Originally, however, it was designed so that the keg might rotate on the trestle, but the connecting shaft had broken off.

Although the ownership indication on the inventory card may also mean that the object was acquired following the foundation of the Willet-Holthuysen museum, in that period (1896-1930) the emphasis was mainly on books and art, not on applied arts or utensils from the nineteenth century . It is therefore likely that we are dealing here with a real object from the time of the last occupants of the building that would later become a museum. It is obvious that it was still used by Abraham Willet himself.

Wouter Hoogeboom, our intern from the Wood and Furniture College, therefore enthusiastically started treating the keg in 2020 and patiently cleaned the inside of the reservoirs with crooked pipe cleaners through the spigot holes. Then he made a new hoop to replace the missing one. However, his internship period was over and the keg remained until the beginning of this year.

All metal fittings were covered with a dark black-gray oxidation that was quite set and might only be treated with liquid cleaners.[1] This meant that the metal parts first had to be detached from the wooden barrel. When cleaning the fittings, the silver plating had already been polished through, with the result that you might see the copper shimmering through; the vessel had apparently been used and cleaned regularly in the past. Also interesting to find was the factory mark (I presume) that became visible following removing the oxidation.

The new hoop is silver-plated (contact silvering with silver chloride-tartaric acid paste) and mounted on the barrel together with the old fittings. With the re-soldered rotary shaft, the keg is connected to the trestle once more.

[1] Polished first with washed chalk and an EDTA solution, followed by steaming and rinsing, the most stubborn oxidation was then removed with 15% formic acid and with Silverdip, followed once more by steaming and rinsing with water. Finished with a layer of micro crystalline wax.