Samovar (Russian Tea Urn)
Metal urn with a central fire-tube used to boil water for tea, a fixture of the Russian home from the early 18th century. The great workshops at Tula and in Moscow produced brass, nickel and silver samovars; around the samovar the family gathered for the evening tea, and it became a byword for hospitality in Russian daily life and literature. A charcoal fire burns in the inner tube, keeping the surrounding water at a rolling boil while the small teapot steeps on top, and the strong tea is poured from the spigot and diluted to taste in each cup. The form spread across Russia, Ukraine and the Ca