Street Bakers

I fond this copy of an old wood block printing in one of my archives.

[DrakeRemoray]

Awesome, it is the early version of "The Fire Within", the portable Forno Bravo ovens from Boulder...
Drake

[stuart]

You think they'd be happier, given the wine and fresh bread!

[Archena]

How happy would you be if you had to drag around an oven all day?


Seriously, any idea when that print is dated to and/or its source? I am in a medieval re-enactment group which is why I'm so interested.


Um, why doesn't the one in the woodcut (and a few others I found elsewhere on the site) show a chimney?

[james]

I think that brick ovens, like a lot of things, took a big step backward in the middle ages. They seem to have fogotten the vent -- along with reading and writing! I'll bet the baker was constantly hot and smelling like smoke. I read an interesting article a while ago where an academic estimated that the "modern" world did not re-reach the standard of living of the Roman empire until the 1950's.
James