A large and serious antique French copper saute pan -- a sauteuse in the French kitchen tradition -- built for professional or high-volume country-house cooking. The body is heavy-gauge copper, hand-hammered into a wide, straight-sided form, with a tin-lined interior and a long wrought iron handle secured by three substantial rivets. Pieces of this weight and scale were the workhorses of French bourgeois and restaurant kitchens from the mid-nineteenth century onward, and finding one intact at this size is increasingly uncommon.
The copper exterior retains its warm, darkened patina, the honest result of decades of use over a wood or gas flame. Inside, the original tin lining survives across the full cooking surface, though it shows the deep scratching and tarnish typical of a pan that actually cooked. The wrought iron handle is beautifully proportioned -- long, flat, and tapering -- with a hanging loop at the end, a classic detail of French professional ironwork. Displayed on an open kitchen shelf or a pot rack, it reads as confident and handsome; restored and re-tinned by a coppersmith, it could cook again. This is an ideal candidate for restoration.
Condition and patina consistent with age. The tin lining shows heavy surface scratching, dark staining and areas of wear throughout; restoration and re-tinning are recommended before any cooking use. The exterior copper and iron handle are structurally sound.
Approx. 13.4 in diameter x 3.0 in deep (34 x 7.5 cm), with walls approximately 1.2 in thick (3 mm). Weight: 4.8 kg (approximately 10.6 lb).
