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Lot Essay
Dining in wealthy households of the 18th century was a ceremonious business, with formal arrangements of foodstuffs piled high on sideboards and impressive centerpieces created for the amusement of diners. Following the medieval tradition of carrying in a large roasted boar's head or fowl on a large platter, ceramic versions began to be made. European faience factories produced colorful animal-form tureens in the 1740's and 50's, and China traders soon followed. W.S. Sargent (The Copeland Collection, p. 202) writes that the V.O.C. ordered 25 goose tureens in 1763 and more in 1764, while another order of 30 fell through because the supercargoes considered them too risky. Useful for serving the newly fashionable French cuisine of casseroles and ragouts, these very large vessels, while wildly impractical, must have made a sumptuous display on the 18th century table.