Not currently on display at the V&A

Sauce Tureen

1776-1777 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Traditionally, metal goods were produced in a network of small, complementary workshops. An object might pass through several of these before it was finished. From the mid-eighteenth century this changed, as entrepreneurs created large factories where all the skills could be contained under one roof. Matthew Boulton (1728-1809) claimed that his Soho factory in Birmingham had: `seven or eight hundred persons employ'd in almost all those Arts that are applicable to the manufacturing of all the metals... I have almost every machine that is applicable to those Arts. I have two Water mills employed in rolling, polishing, grinding and turning various sorts of laths.' (letter to James Adam 1 Oct. 1770)


Object details

Categories
Object type
Parts
This object consists of 2 parts.

  • Sauce Tureen
  • Cover (Closure)
Materials and techniques
Silver, raised, chased with cast and applied decoration.
Brief description
Sauce tureen, silver, Birmingham hallmarks for 1776-77, mark of Matthew Boulton & John Fothergill.
Physical description
One of a pair of sauce boats and covers, each in the form of an oval two-handled vase with fluted and gadrooned body, the lip chased with floral scrolls, loop handles forked at the junction with the lip, spreading foot with border chased with a flower and ribbon with low domed matching cover surmounted by a knob finial. The full sets of hallmarks are on the lip inside the lid. The foot of each tureen carries the marks for Matthew Boulton and James Fothergill.
Dimensions
  • Height: 5in
  • Width: 4.5in
  • Length: 9.75in
Style
Production typesmall batch
Marks and inscriptions
  • Birmingham hallmarks for 1776-77
  • Mark of Matthew Boulton & John Fothergill.
Credit line
Bequeathed by Marmaduke Langdale Horn
Object history
Bequest - Marmaduke Langdale Horn
Michaels, Stoke Charity, Hants.,
per Collyer, Bristow & Co., 4 Bedford Row
Acquisition RF: 53 / 2778
Subjects depicted
Summary
Traditionally, metal goods were produced in a network of small, complementary workshops. An object might pass through several of these before it was finished. From the mid-eighteenth century this changed, as entrepreneurs created large factories where all the skills could be contained under one roof. Matthew Boulton (1728-1809) claimed that his Soho factory in Birmingham had: `seven or eight hundred persons employ'd in almost all those Arts that are applicable to the manufacturing of all the metals... I have almost every machine that is applicable to those Arts. I have two Water mills employed in rolling, polishing, grinding and turning various sorts of laths.' (letter to James Adam 1 Oct. 1770)
Associated object
Bibliographic references
  • Sally Bagot, "I Am Very Desirous of Becoming a Great Silversmith, Matthew Boultron and The Birmingham Assay Office" in Shena Mason ed. Matthew Boulton, Selling what the world desires, Birmingham City Council in association with Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 2009. p.54 ill. ISBN: 9780300143584
  • Angus Patterson, "A Timely Acquisition: The V&A's Matthew Boulton Pattern Book, ca. 1779", Journal of the Antique Metalware Society, Vol. 17, June 2009, pp. 58-75, p. 62 ill.
Collection
Accession number
CIRC.512-1953

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Record createdSeptember 10, 2004
Record URL
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