A SILVER COVERED TUREEN, STAND AND LINER, BY ANTOINE BOULLIER, PARIS, 1781-1782 | A silver covered tureen, stand and liner, by Antoine Boullier, Paris, 1781-1782

oval form, the stand on four buttons feet, the tureen on four paw feet, the handles shaped as cornucopia and eagle's head, the finial cover shaped as a dog and wolf fighting, inscribed under the stand A BOULLIE FECIT A PARIS ( with a spelling mistake to the silversmith's name), cover inscribed  A BOULLIER FECIT A PARIS, cover and liner stamped at the 20th century and restamped with the swan mark, two screw missing

The liner with a dent (approx. 4 cm diam) and minor dents in places. The stand with two feet resoldered. Tureen, cover and stand with small dents in places and scratches to the surface. Some leaves probably missing to the frieze Some bolts and nuts missing (we only have two bolts). Well marked under the stand, inside tureen, under liner and inside cover. In overall good condition. Very nice design.
The lot is sold in the condition it is in at the time of sale. The condition report is provided to assist you with assessing the condition of the lot and is for guidance only. Any reference to condition in the condition report for the lot does not amount to a full description of condition. The images of the lot form part of the condition report for the lot provided by Sotheby's. Certain images of the lot provided online may not accurately reflect the actual condition of the lot. In particular, the online images may represent colours and shades which are different to the lot's actual colour and shades. The condition report for the lot may make reference to particular imperfections of the lot but you should note that the lot may have other faults not expressly referred to in the condition report for the lot or shown in the online images of the lot. The condition report may not refer to all faults, restoration, alteration or adaptation because Sotheby's is not a professional conservator or restorer but rather the condition report is a statement of opinion genuinely held by Sotheby's. For that reason, Sotheby's condition report is not an alternative to taking your own professional advice regarding the condition of the lot.

Antoine Boullier, born in Chateauroux on January 30, 1749, had a very original life. Son of the goldsmith Joseph Boullier, with whom he was apprenticed in 1764, we actually don't know any piece bearing his mark. He became master in Paris by the priviledge of the free Royal Art School on December 16, 1775, bonded by Edme-François Balzac. He entered his mark on December 1775, AB, a tower, joined, as for every Parisian silversmith, by a crowned fleur-de-lis and two remedy grains. His workshop is located on the Pont-au-Change. In 1778, he did a superb toilet service for the Count Potocki composed of 23 silver pieces in the antique style. Empress Catherine II also ordered from Boullier (see a pair of lion-headed terrines sold at Christie's, Geneva, in the early 1990s, dated 1781 ; for these tureens only a part was bearing Boullier's mark, the other parts were copied at the request of the sovereign by Berthold Schlepper in St. Petersburg and were mixed after cleaning). A tureen made by Boullier, dated 1782-1784, is illustrated in Baron Foelkersam's Inventaire de l'argenterie conservée dans les garde-meubles des palais impériaux, 1907, planche 42, the finial shaped as an open-winged bird. Another pair of important tureens were delivered to the Duke de Charost in 1776-1778, the finials shaped as a wheat sheat, and were later engraved with Mortemart coat-of-arms. One of them figured in Exposition d'Orfèvrerie française civile du XVIe au début du XIXe siècle, musée des Arts décoratifs, Palais du Louvre, Paris, 1926, No. 179.

This tureen is one of a pair with another, the finial representing a wildboar fighting with a dog, part of the Alfred Sommier collection, Vaux-le-Vicomte castle, Count P. de Vogüé's sale, Christie's Geneva, November 6, 1959, No. 90.

The Sommier tureen is illustrated in the 1974 reissue of the Louis Carré, Les Poinçons de l'Orfèvrerie française, 1929, plate XXI, No. 2.