The ash pan, the floor covering in front of the stove door, is cast from cast iron. It is a flat, trefoil-shaped “bowl,” supported by four legs. The edge of the ash pan, which abuts the stove wall, is long and straight. The interior is smooth, with a trefoil outline, while the convex edges are covered with a plastic decoration made of stylized Alpine violet bushes. The decoration is visible in the negative on the bottom of the ash pan. Ash pans, now almost forgotten, were a very common appliance in the days when rooms were heated with stoves, especially since the introduction of hard coal for heating. They came in various sizes and shapes, usually matching the decoration to the stove, or at least its door. From true masterpieces to simple sheets of metal nailed to the floor, their only function was to prevent the burning coal from igniting the planks if it accidentally fell out of the firebox.
