Luxury subject or relevant need?
Even in those days, the refrigerator could also serve as the subject of luxury. In rich families of Italian patricians or in Russian landowner estates in the summer hot months, wine bottles placed in a vessel filled with stabbed ice were served to the table. These were primitive and impromptu vessels, keeping the cold for some time, which were practically placed on the table along with the contents. For storage of perishable products, specially made cabinets filled with ice were also used. In order to ensure proper thermal insulation, the pieces of such cabinets were filled with sawdust, moss, and on the outside they were wrapped by animal skins, which are excellent natural heat insulators. A gutter was made in the lower department of the cabinet for the removal of water formed from the melting of ice. The content of such a refrigerator required constant care, and this was done by the servants.