Cover for a Tureen

Silver fulfilled a prominent role in projecting wealth, status, power, and ritual in British life during the 1600s and 1700s. Elaborate forms such as this tureen cover, with its lionhead finials, acanthus leaves, and fluted detailing, not only represented wealth in its sheer silver weight but also provided royal and aristocratic owners a surface for displaying engraved coats of arms. The arms of the High Sheriff of Yorkshire, Timothy Hutton and his wife Elizabeth Chaytor of Spennithorne Hall in northern England are engraved on the accompanying tureen and stand by Paul Storr, one of the most prominent London silversmiths of the period.