Sauceboats were among the pieces of domestic silver which emerged during the second decade of the eighteenth century, possibly because George I introduced certain types of sauces to England at that time. Early examples had a pouring lip on either side of the vessel, in between which were two scroll handles. Rococo sauceboats were beautifully ornate and by the 1740s the earlier moulded base was surpassed in fashion by three or four cast feet in ornamental shapes, while the outline of the vessel evolved into an oval or bombe form which was concurrently in use for tureens. The delightfully elaborate scroll handle, positioned opposite the pouring lip, was one of the major attractions of the sauceboat of this period. (more…)

Our ancestors must have suffered a good deal from both heat and cold, hence the vast numbers of screens they have left us which either ward off heatfrom a roaring fire or provide shelter from freezing draughts. Lately we have been bringing them down from the attics again for their purely decorative qualities.

Fire-screens of many kinds are there—small hand ones, hung on a hook by the fireplace, also table models used to protect the face. The larger ones, intended to cover the whole fireplace, and called cheval screens because they are hung on a frame across four legs, are sometimes in metal, for use when the fire was alight; in more fragile materials they would have been used in the summer to hide the gaping maw of the fireplace. (more…)