Terms and conditions of use
Pair of sauce boats
1743-1744
Medium
silver
Measurements
(a) 18.2 × 20.5 × 10.2 cm
(b) 17.6 × 20.1 × 10.1 cm
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Felton Bequest, 1934
Gallery location
18th Century Decorative Arts & Paintings Gallery
Level 2, NGV International
About this work
These extraordinary sauce boats with dragons forming the handles represent the height of Rococo fantasy in mid eighteenth-century England. Dragons emerged as a fashionable motif among the fantastic nature of Rococo imagery, with interest in exotic, mythical creatures reflecting the taste for Chinoiserie. Asymmetric Rococo scrolling forms adorn every part of these sauceboats, whose helmet forms are otherwise entirely Classical in inspiration.
Artwork Details
Place/s of Execution
London, England
Inscription
(a-b) punched in base (inverted) c.: (crowned leopard's head) h
punched in base (diagonally) c.: (lion passant) / H
Accession Number
3563.a-b-D3
Department
International Decorative Arts
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Digitisation Champion Ms Carol Grigor through Metal Manufactures Limited
Physical description
George II helmet sauce boat, masks under lip, Griffin handles, probably by Henry Herbert.