Ode to the sauce tureen
- willa
- Aug 8
- 2 min read
This week we are singing an ode to a serving dish that was ubiquitous in the 18th and 19th Centuries, but is seldom seen today: the sauce tureen. Today's desserts usually consist of a single plate with a beautiful piece of pastry or ice cream, or a bowl with some sort of trifle. A few centuries ago that was different; dessert consisted of a rich table full of various kinds of fruit, nuts, and baked goods. And it wouldn't be complete without some freshly cooked fruit compote and cream.
Therefore, each dessert service would have at least two sauce tureens: bowls, often on a foot with a dish beneath to catch the unavoidable mess we make when ladling out compote or cream. The cover would always have a hole for the spoon or ladle. To give you a sense, above you can see a full service with two beautiful sauce tureens, made by Flight, Barr & Barr between 1815 and 1820, and below is another one made by Spode in 1814.
I always love these sauce tureens, sometimes called sauce comports or cream bowls. They are often graciously shaped and, for the designer and painter of the dessert service, a real opportunity to show off their skill.
Today I am showing several very different sauce tureens.
Of course, I found several in Murray Pollinger's collection of Samuel Alcock porcelain, which are now up in the shop. There is a very stylish grey, pale yellow and gilt one from about 1843 with rich acanthus motifs and beautiful flower posies. It is a gorgeous colour combo, in my view, and I have also several plates in that colour scheme, see at the bottom of the page.
Then there is quite a stunner, bulbous and decorated in emerald green, yellow and gilt, with exceptional flowers, have a look at the listing for the details. This one, made in about 1825, has a very striking shape, it is part of the "writhen" series that the vases I showed a few weeks ago are also part of, with a charming wavey edge.
Another high-footed one is the stylish maroon sauce tureen from about 1842, again with beautiful flower posies, a similar shape to the first one mentioned above.
Lastly, I have a pair of sauce tureens that are very special and rare. They were made by Coalport around 1820, so a bit older than the Samuel Alcock ones. The special thing about these is not only their absolutely stunning decoration with lots of gilt and gorgeous flowers, but their shape; very elegant and neo-classical, with Mayan masks for handles and finials. I've never seen this shape before but it is known that Coalport made some, and it is very rare. The stunning decoration is called the "Marquess of Anglesey" pattern, about which I'll write more soon - it's an interesting story!
Where to find things
You can find all my serving bowls and dishes here, and you can find all my available stock here. If you always want to see the latest additions, follow me on Instagram... I post pictures and a story several times a week.
Happy weekend everyone!
This week's featured treasures:
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