Oval tureen with lid, curved form, standing on four curved cast and chiseled feet. Leaf-shaped handles. Finial in the form of a flowering twig. Engraved weight indication 158 5/8 lod. Length including handles 38 cm, height 27 cm. Weight approximately 2097 g.
Count Claes Erik Sparre of Söfdeborg (1746–1829) married in 1775 to Baroness Mariana Helena Ehrenkrona (1748–1820). Their estate inventories, in 1830 and 1821 respectively, list under "Silver at Thorpa", "5 pcs Larger and smaller Tureens 634 lod",
Thereafter by inheritance.
Swedish Silver 1500–1850, Nationalmuseum, compare with a similar tureen by Gustaf Stafhell p. 215 and a tureen by Pehr Zethelius p. 290.
The silver tureen
During the 18th century, the old practice of setting the dinner table with each course at once (service à la française) was replaced by the new practice where the dishes replaced each other, and new ones were presented (service à la russe). The types of serving vessels became more numerous and received a more precise use than before, and plates were replaced for each dish. The fixed points of the dinner setting were, among other things, candlesticks and, in homes belonging to royalty and the aristocracy, a central piece of splendor in the form of a silver tureen.
The Rococo tureen by Simson Ryberg was made in Stockholm in 1775 and was probably ordered for the wedding between Count Claes Erik Sparre of Söfdeborg (1746-1829) and Baroness Mariana Helena Ehrenkrona (1748-1820) which took place the same year at Idingstad in Östergötland.