A copper 'turtle' soup tureen, probably English, circa 1800

realistically modelled in the form of a green turtle, detachable shell cover

A little messy around some junctions. Otherwise good condition for age.
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This model takes inspiration from an important and almost unique George II silver example by Paul de Lamerie, London, 1750, sold Christie's London, 9 July 1997, lot 179. An almost identical example can be found in the kitchens of Burghley House, Lincolnshire, as part of a 260-piece copper 'batterie de cuisine'.

We know from the amount of tortoiseshell (a misnomer for turtle-shell) used in snuff-boxes, and on a larger scale in boulle furniture, that turtles were being imported in considerable quantities. Turtles were not only imported for their shells but also for their meat; the Green Turtle (Chelonia Mydas) was said to be the best for eating, as recorded in The Gentleman’s Magazine, February 1750: “Turtles are found as frequently upon the coasts in America, as in Asia and Africa. There are four kinds, the trunk turtle, the black bill, the loggerhead and the green, but the flesh of the last only is reckoned wholesome.” An even earlier reference from 1657 also speaks of the superior qualities of the Green turtle: “a third kind called the Green turtle … far excelling the other two (Loggerhead and Hawksbill) in wholesomeness and rareness of taste.”

It was found that if the turtle was kept in a tank of fresh water they could be brought back to Europe alive and then cooked “in the West Indian fashion.” Numerous contemporary references extol the merits of turtle meat and soup. A turtle dinner was seen as the height extravagance and luxury. Robert Adam, when bemoaning his clients parsimony, complains that they are not only bad at paying him but, even when they do, they “give nothing worth taking. So may the devil damn them altogether. I’ll turn soap-boiler and tallow chandler; they grow rich and eat turtle.” The cost of live turtles was high and this led to the creation of ‘mock’ turtle soup, an ersatz creation fashioned from the cooking of a calf’s head. The Gentleman’s Magazine, 13 July 1754 records the presentation of a turtle by Lord Anson: “The Right Hon. The Lord Anson made a present to the gentlemen of White’s Coffee House, of a turtle which weighed 300 weight, and which laid five eggs still in their possession. The shell was four feet three inches long and about three feet wide.” The huge example is by no means the largest. Chamber’s Cyclopaedia of 1738 informs the reader that: “On the Brazilian shore they are said to be so big as sometimes to dine four score men; and that in the Indian sea the shells serve the natives for boats… in the island of Cuba they are of such a bulk, that they will creep along with five men on their backs.” Robinson Crusoe, by Daniel Defoe, published in 1719 describes the most famous of castaways dining on turtle meat: “June 17 I spent in cooking the turtle; I found in her three score eggs”. There are numerous recipes for the preparation or ‘dressing’ of a turtle, the one illustrated here comes from the first edition of Elizabeth Smith’s The Complete Housewife published in 1758; others from the 1770s and 1790s can be found in Williamsburg cookbooks of the period. The fashion for turtle soup continued into the 19th century as shown by the existence of a number of Old Sheffield Plate soup tureens formed as turtles. Moreover, Sara Paston-Williams in The Art of Dining, 1993 describes a dinner enjoyed by The Rev. Thomas Talbot at Saltram in 1811:

“At dinner we had nothing less than two Earls and a turtle. Lord Paulett [sic] (a most profoundly stupid Lord he seems, though very good-natured). Lord Mount Edgecumbe [sic] was extremely amusing and gave us some excellent imitations and stories. We dined in the great dining room and had the very best exertions of Mr Howse, the cook, put forth, which he certainly did with considerable effect, being pronounced one of the most accomplished Turtle dressers of the Age, which certainly, and accompanied with Ice Lime Punch, cannot be pronounced a very bad sort of diet.”