Pair of Tureens, Liners, and Stands
 
Silversmith Thomas Germain designed this pair of large silver tureens, or covered soup bowls, to look like the food that was served in them. They would usually hold a rich stew of meat and vegetables. The tureens have boars' heads and legs, since the meat in the stew would have come from a boar.

We no longer have the lids of these tureens, but we know that the lids would have been decorated with images of vegetables and seafood. The artist would have used actual vegetables—like cauliflowers—to make molds, and then poured in melted silver so that the metal would take the shape of the vegetables.

Do you think these dishes would be used at a fancy dinner or a casual one? They look fancy to us, but in the 1700s these serving pieces were used for informal dinners so people could serve themselves instead of having servants wait on them.

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