Pair of oval tureens
Frederick Kandler (d.1778)
Category
Silver
Date
1755 - 1756
Materials
Silver
Measurements
24 x 41 x 23 cm
Place of origin
London
Order this imageCollection
Coughton Court, Warwickshire
NT 1961499
Summary
Pair of oval tureens, sterling silver, by Frederick Kandler, London, 1755/6. The shaped oval bombé base of each tureen is chased with elaborate, symmetrically arranged lobing interspersed with stems rising to vine leaves. Central asymmetrical rococo cartouches on both sides with C-scrolls, shellwork and foliage contain engraved coats of arms. Each tureen rests on four cast and applied foliate scroll feet and has two foliate scroll and shell open handles. The concave neck is plain and polished and rises to a shaped gadrooned lip. The domed cover of each tureen conforms to the base and has a flat rim with chased curved channels and four oval floral paterae, placed centrally on the sides and the ends. Above the paterae on the sides are chased scallop shells within C-scrolls whilst at the ends there are convex lobed palmettes which initiate bands of graduated buds and leaves set within matted pulvinate bands. They rise up the symmetrically lobed dome which is shouldered and round headed and has, at its apex, a cast handle in the form of an eagle with wings outstretched and clasping in its beak the neck of a grouse, its talons on a hare. This group rests on vegetables including an artichoke. Heraldry: The cartouches on both sides of each tureen are engraved with the arms of Throckmorton quartering Yate overlaid with an inescutcheon of the Hand of Ulster (symbol of a baronetcy) and impaled with the arms of Collingwood, for Sir Robert Throckmorton, 4th Baronet (1702-91) and his second wife, Catherine Collingwood (c.1705-61, m. 1738). Hallmarks: Fully marked on the underside of the base and the underside of the rim of the cover with date letter ‘u’, lion passant, maker’s mark ‘FK’ in italics beneath a fleur-de-lis (Arthur Grimwade London Goldsmiths 1697-1837 (1990), no. 691) and leopard’s head crowned. Scratchweights: ‘102=10’ and ‘103’ [troy ounces & pennyweight].
Full description
The great bulk of the silver at or from Coughton that still exists today relates to the seven-decade tenure of Sir Robert Throckmorton (1702-1791), 4th Baronet. From the moment of his inheritance until well into old age this distinguished patron of the arts actively engaged with the precious metal, even to the point of leaving a bequest in his will specifically to ensure that the family silver was maintained. Much of what he had inherited from his father in 1721, along with early purchases of his own, appears to have been swept away in the name of fashion following his second marriage, in 1738, to Catherine Collingwood (c.1705-1761) and his priority was to update his dinner service. Plates and dishes were reshaped and augmented in the 1740s (NT 135654 & 135655) and the commencement of a fine new Palladian house at Buckland in Berkshire (now Oxfordshire) in the 1750s seems to have prompted substantial commissions from Frederick Kandler (d. 1778), one of the most significant and innovative of goldsmiths of the mid 18th century who was also a principal retailer, supplying the works of others alongside his own. Sir Robert received sets of circular and cushion-shaped ‘comport’ dishes (1751-8) marked by Kandler himself, a set of eight lion-feet cauldron salts by David Hennell, 1754, flatware by Ebenezer Coker of 1755, some silver-bottomed decanter stands by Kandler, 1757, and probably the set of four scallop shells listed in the 1792 Buckland plate list (Warwickshire Record Office, CR 1998/EB/49) but no longer surviving. Also by Kandler and central to the whole array were these magnificent shaped oval tureens of 1755 and an epergne of 1758 , described in 1934 (Christie’s, 25 July 1934, lot 58) as having a ‘central boat-shaped basket, pierced with flowers and scrolls, with a handle at each end chased in relief with a mask of Hermes, supported by four pierced scroll feet joined by a band of openwork flowers’. Sadly, the whereabouts of the Throckmorton epergne, which had had its arms reduced from eight to four by 1838 and its dishes replaced by candleholders, are unknown. The tureens are of the finest quality of workmanship, are striking and effective visually and are amongst the most distinctive created by Kandler in the high rococo taste with their extravagantly lobed bodies and eagle and game finials. There are no other examples known of this pattern and it was very probably Sir Robert’s commission that prompted the design. Kandler was an acute follower of fashion and his work is frequently distinguished, as with these tureens, by its sculptural qualities and by the influence of Germanic as well as the more usual French design. This is seen in the prolific and skilfully judged use of lobing which marks these tureens out from the standard shaped ovals of the period, as well as in the carefully modelled eagle finials and in the lively armorial cartouches. The tureens can be seen as an evolution of models produced by Charles Kandler, probably Frederick’s uncle, in 1728 (Cincinnati Art Museum; 1982.187) and 1732 (Museum of Fine Arts Boston; 65.397). With their flutes, lobes and sharp ribs, as well as their curvaceous bodies, these are clearly of Germanic inspiration and closely compare to Augsburg examples in silver and later Meissen versions in porcelain. The single scroll handles of the 1728 Kandler tureen are also precursors of the more elegant versions on the Coughton tureens. Of all Sir Robert’s purchases of silver these tureens would have been the most costly, their prominent role as the focus of attention at the dinner table being the spur for such investment. Meals started with the theatrical flourish of their spectacular lids being removed and they would have contained one of a wide range of bisques, pottages, broths and soups. Vincent La Chapelle’s The Modern Cook, published in 1733, devoted some eighty pages to suitable recipes. The word tureen, as used in England, is thought to derive from ‘terrine’, the French word which John Kersey in his 1708 dictionary interpreted as ‘an Earthen Pan: In Cookery, a Mess made of a Breast of Mutton, with Quails, Pigeons, &c. stew’d in a Pan.’ The tureens were included in the list of silver at Buckland House drawn up in 1792 (see above), following the death of Sir Robert, and they also feature in the 1838 list (Warwickshire Record Office, CR 1998/EB/49). They remained at Buckland until the sale of that estate in 1910 when they were brought to Coughton Court. In 1934 Sir Robert Throckmorton, 11th Baronet (1908-1989) consigned much of the silver to auction at Christie’s (25th July) and the tureens, which were lot 69, were acquired by the Duke of Kent. His widow sold them on in 1947 and they ended up in a private Swedish collection from which they were acquired by the National Trust in 2022, thanks to the generosity of a private donor and with support from National Trust gifts and bequests.
Provenance
Commissioned by Sir Robert Throckmorton, 4th Bt (1702-91); by descent to Sir Robert Throckmorton, 11th Bt (1908-89) at Buckland House, Berkshire (up to 1910) and then at Coughton Court; sold by him at Christie’s, 25 July 1934, lot 69; acquired by H.R.H. the Duke of Kent (1902-42); H.R.H. the Duchess of Kent (1906-68); sold by her at Christie’s, 13 March 1947; S. J. Phillips Ltd, London; sold by them 23 February 1948 to a Swedish collector from whose successors they were purchased by the National Trust 25 February, 2022 with the support of a private donor and National Trust gifts and bequests.
Credit line
Coughton Court, the Throckmorton Collection (National Trust)
Makers and roles
Frederick Kandler (d.1778), goldsmith