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Tole, the French word for Sheet Iron, is the term used today for the decorative art of Japanned (painted) rolled steel. This art developed, as we know it, in the late 18th Century with the proliferation of inexpensive metal goods for the home and shipment and storage of perishables. The Industrial Revolution of the 1830’s greatly expended the production and the markets for these products. From domestication to decoration is but a short step, and trade with the Orient had already introduced highly decorated metal containers (i.e., tea canisters, etc.) to Europe
The earliest surviving examples of period tole date from c.1790-1825. Most pieces of this era were decorated with neo-classical designs, stylistically and variously referred to as Empire in France, Regency in England, and Biedermeier in the Austrian Empire. The Victorians took it through all their style revivals and into mass-produced kitsch.
Tole has been in constant use since its beginning. It is now found in reproduction in a wide variety of furnishings and in more contemporary forms. Today, tole is an excellent example of the growing appreciation of handmade, but not necessarily homemade, practical decorative accessories.
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