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soup tureens and stands

Description
The two large and two small tureens are each of circular, two-handled form, on a shaped square base that has incurved sides and canted angles and is decorated with panels of basketwork and beading. The lower part of the waisted stem is of octagonal section chased with formal foliage and with swirling fluting above, and it is flanked by four freestanding winged lions. The hemispherical body of the tureen has a winged bust in Egyptian headdress applied to each side and a classical frieze of relief figures on matted ground above with a gadrooned border. The handles are in the form of the winged and crowned goddess Ephesian Artemis issuing from a cornucopia decorated with relief panels in neo-Babylonian style representing the elements. The domed cover is chased with a band of leaves and scrolls and has a double serpent handle above a beaded surround. The circular stands each rest on four paw-and-scroll feet, with a laurel-wreath border and a broad band of alternating paterae and foliage lozenges within. A beaded band is applied around the raised centre. The tureens are engraved with the royal crest and the royal ducal coronet within the badge of the Order of the Garter. On the underside of one of the stands are engraved the initials E. D.C. and on the other three, E. A. Fs. (see Heraldry).

Construction
The bowls of the tureens are raised, with separately assembled bases. Each stem is attached to the base by four screws and the cast lions by two screws each. The base is attached to the stand by four screws. The handles and relief ornament on the tureen and stands are cast and applied. The covers are raised, with seamed flanges and cast beading attached by four screws, and the handles are attached by three screws. The stands are raised, with cast and applied borders and feet. The band of ornament within is embossed; the lozenges are separately cast and each is attached by two screws.

Heraldry
The royal ducal crest, coronet, and Garter badge are almost certainly for Ernest Augustus (1771-1851), fifth son of George III, who was duke of Cumberland and king of Hanover (r.1837-51).

Ernest Augustus, like his brothers, pursued a military career for much of his early life, earning for himself a considerable reputation for personal bravery at Tournay in 1794 and becoming a field marshal in 1813. In 1815 he married Friderike, third daughter of Friedrich, grand duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. His accession in 1837 to the throne of Hanover, from which Queen Victoria was barred under Salic. law, led to one of the great causes célèbres of the nineteenth century. Victoria claimed and demanded the return of the royal plate in the palace of Herrenhausen, Ernest refused to oblige, and it was only with the greatest difficulty that the matter was prevented from becoming the subject of a public lawsuit. Indeed, Ernest went further and settled the matter by having all the plate at Herrenhausen engraved with the initials E.A. Fs., for "Ernest Augustus Fidekommiss" (entailed [to the estate of] Ernest Augustus). The collection, which included a considerable quantity of English royal plate, remained in Hanover until it was bought and dispersed by the London firm of Crichton Brothers in 1924.

Commentary
These tureens are one of the most magnificent statements in English silver of the neo-Egyptian style and among the grandest of all designs to emerge from the workshops of Rundell, Bridge and Rundell. Egyptomania flourished in France after Napoleon's expedition to Egypt and was popular in England after Admiral Nelson defeated Napoleon at the Battle of the Nile (August 1, 1798). Egyptian motifs were popularized by the publication in 1801 of Percier and Fontaine's Recued décorations intérieures. The decoration of these tureens owes in part to sources such as this and in part to the eighteenth-century engravings by Giovanni Battista Piranesi after ancient vases. A more specific source of inspiration, however, was a French tureen of 1798 by Henri Auguste in the royal collection. The latter had in fact been supplied to the royal household by Rundell's in 1803, and the stands of the Gilbert Collection tureens are directly modelled after that accompanying the Auguste tureen.

These tureens were definitely at Hanover after the duke of Cumberland's accession, but although they are engraved with the provocative initials E.A. Fs. (see Heraldry), it would seem likely that they were his personal property (perhaps a wedding gift) and therefore not subject to his dispute with Queen Victoria. Had they been supplied originally to George III, they would have been engraved with a full crown rather than the coronet; also, the initials E.D.C., for Ernest, duke of Cumberland, under one stand must predate his accession to the throne of Hanover, after which he would presumably have ceased to style himself in this manner.

Glossaries

tureen - a broad, deep, usually covered dish used for serving soups or stews
chase - to decorate a metal surface using a hammer and sharp tool
fluting - a series of concave, parallel grooves running vertically, derived from the decoration of columns in classical architecture
frieze - a decorative horizontal band
gadroons - a series of convex curves often applied as a border decoration
cornucopia - a goat’s horn overflowing with fruit, flowers and grain
patera - an ornament in the shape of a small, flat circle or oval, often decorated with radiating leaves; plural, paterae
raised - formed from a single sheet of metal by repeated hammering over an anvil
emboss - mould or carve in relief, decorate with a raised design

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