Écuelle
Decorated with vegetables, herbs, and a trussed red grouse on the finial, this two-handled shallow bowl, or écuelle, was probably intended for porridge, which is defined in a 1728 English dictionary as “a liquid Food of Herbes, Flesh, &c.” French in origin, écuelles are rare in English silver. This example was made in London by Paul de Lamerie, son of a French émigré and one of the greatest eighteenth-century English silversmiths. In de Lamerie’s obituary in the London Evening Post of August 6, 1751, he is described as “particularly famous in making fine ornamental Plate” and having been “very instrumental in bringing that Branch of Trade to the perfection it is now in.”
Source: Vignon, Charlotte. The Frick Collection Decorative Arts Handbook. New York: The Frick Collection/Scala, 2015.
Duveen. Frick, 1916.
Source: Enamels, Rugs and Silver in The Frick Collection. Volume VIII. New York: The Frick Collection, 1977.
