Antique Silver Entree Dishes and Sauceboats
18th-19th Century Silver Entree Dishes and Sauceboats
Entree dishes and sauceboats were among the new items of dining silver introduced in France in the late 17th century. French fashion changed European tastes in food: as the new trend developed, the typical plain roast meat served with cold sauces was replaced by soups, stews, and dishes accompanied by hot sauces made from seafood or veal stock, ham and bacon, and herbs and spices. Silver was a particularly useful material for vessels containing these hot foods as it retains heat well. In the 18th century dishes and sauceboats were decorated en suite with plates, tureens and other dining utensils, as the complete dinner service with matching ornaments became the height of fashion.
SILVER ENTREE DISHES
Entree dishes were used for serving the “entree” – the first course of cooked food that came before the main meat course – for example, small game such as hare, pheasant, or partridge. From about the middle of the 18th century they were also known as “hash” or “curry dishes”, from the hot and spicy curries that were introduced to Britain via its extensive trade with India. Today, entree dishes are more popular for serving vegetables or salads.
Made in various sizes and often in pairs or sets of four, these dishes are shallow with a flat bottom and/or four low feet and usually a domed cover with a handle. As with candlesticks, single entree dishes are generally less collectable than a pair or set. The handles, which are sometimes wooden on early examples, are generally detachable, so that the cover can be used by itself as a separate dish. The cover should always fit comfortably into the dish, and both should bear the same marks. Some entree dishes had Sheffield-plate covers, possibly to reduce the cost of the whole piece.
Entree dishes from the mid- and late 18th century are usually oval in form, with a handle on the cover and very little ornament other than gadrooning or fluting around the edges. The finest entree dishes have heavy cast handles in the form of a family crest, but simple reeded or plain ring handles, with leaf decoration covering the locking plate, are more common. Most examples are also engraved with a coat of arms, but some pieces have a coat of arms on the cover and a crest on the base. Those made in the late 18th century tend to Lie much lighter than earlier ones, as the gauge of metal used was considerably thinner. Such pieces should therefore be carefully checked for denting or splitting.
In the early 19th century entree dishes became larger and heavier, with a more pronounced domed shape to the cover, and with ornate cast handles sometimes in the form of vegetables, reflecting the contemporary taste for naturalistic ornament. Shapes became more varied, being square, oblong, round, and cushion-like as well as oval. The simple gadrooning around the rims was often replaced by more elaborate reeding interspersed with flowers, scrolls, or shells.
To keep the food warm, the dish was generally placed either on a dish cross (incorporating a burner) or, from the early 19th century, on a plated heater base, usually made from Sheffield plate, which contained hot water or a block of heated iron. Only a very few entree dishes are found today with their original heater base.
Fewer dishes were being made for the entree course by the mid-19th century, principally because the custom of laying out dishes on the table so that diners could help themselves was replaced by the practice of servants serving food to each of the diners individually as they moved around the table.
SILVER SAUCEBOATS
First introduced c.1715, sauceboats were used for serving gravy or the rich, thick sauces that accompanied meat and fish dishes. They were often made in pairs, and sometimes in sets of four or six for larger services. Like other items commonly made in pair or sets, a single sauceboat is generally less desirable than a pair. The earliest examples of the George I period were double-lipped and stood on a flat oval base with simple scroll handles on either side of the body. The only decorative features were the moulded, wavy rim and engraved armorials. However, this form, which was copied by early European porcelain manufacturers, proved impractical for pouring, and by c.1725 the familiar bulbous form of sauceboat had appeared, with its single everted (out-turned) lip opposite a handle. It was first made with a central pedestal foot; three or four cast hoof, shell, or scroll feet were introduced in the 1740s, and cast masks or shells applied where the feet joined the body. Some sauceboats were made with a matching circular or oval stand and ladle and sometimes a cover.
The body of the sauceboat was generally raised from a single sheet of silver, so no seaming should be evident. For practical reasons, decoration was restricted to gadrooning or punching to strengthen the wavy rims and the shells or masks where the feet joined the body, although crests were sometimes engraved on either side
of the body or under the lip. Cast double-scroll handles were usual until c.1745 and flying-scroll handles (with only one end joined to the body) thereafter, sometimes with leaf decoration.
The sauceboat was a form particularly well exploited in the 1730s and 1740s by the best Rococo silversmiths, often of Huguenot descent – in England, Paul Crespin (1694-1770), Paul de Lamerie (1688-1751), and Nicholas Sprimont (1716-71) – who produced shell-shaped bodies with ornate cast handles
in the form of dolphins, caryatids, birds, griffins, and animals, and cast and applied shells and marine creatures. The bodies of Rococo sauceboats are also sometimes decorated with cast and applied scrolls
and cartouches. Some of the highest-quality sauceboats are gilded inside. Among the finest examples of this period are the set of naturalistic shell-shaped sauceboats with sculptural figural handles made by Sprimont in 1743-4 for Frederick, Prince of Wales.
The prevalence of sauceboats with shell-and-fish motifs indicates the popularity during this period of rich sauces made with fish. Some rare examples have
a body with a double thickness of silver, to be filled with hot water to keep the sauce warm at the table.
In the 1770s the central foot
again became fasionable and bowls were deeper, with a tall loop handle replacing the
scroll handle. However, sauceboats were generally superseded by sauce tureens in this period, although they returned after the 1820s. In the 19th
century, sauceboats were often made in 18th-century styles as part of a ceramic dinner service. Common features of 19th-century sauceboats include a heavy cast foot, applied shell decoration, leaf-capped scroll handles, and three feet. The shell shape was also revived
and was produced in Sheffield plate as well as silver; similarly, the early double-lipped sauceboat was popular in the 1820s and 1830s; examples of this date can be distinguished from the early 18th-century versions by their high, inward-curving handles. Sauce-boats of this period were commonly produced in large sets of varying sizes, especially in response to the expansion of the hotel and catering trades after the mid-19th century.
Entree dishes•
DESIGN the cover may have gadrooned rims on the inside to match the base when turned over and used as a dish.
• CONDITION the cover and handle should both fit properly; lead may show on Sheffield-plate examples –this is caused by bleeding from lead-filled plated and applied handles under heat.
• COLLECTING most entree dishes found today are not in good condition because they have been subjected to considerable use – only the best are collectable; lack of detachable handle (or handle soldered on) reduces value; plated heater bases are often found separately.
Marks
The cover and dish should bear the same marks; armorials on the cover should match those on the base
Sauceboats
• CONDITION the handle should be securely attached –seaming under the handle may indicate repairs; pieces in good condition, raised from a single sheet of silver, should have no seaming; rims are thin and often damaged or repaired; feet are vulnerable to damage.
• COLLECTING pairs are more valuable than singles.
Marks
These are under the body on three-footed pieces and on the edge or inside the foot on pieces with a central foot.