Soup tureen and cover

The Courtaulds were part of the roughly 200,000 Protestant refugees, known as Huguenots, who fled religious persecution in France and were exiled across Europe. The first Courtauld settled in London in the late 1680s and worked in the wine trade. His son Augustin trained as a silversmith, in 1729 opening a workshop in London’s Soho district, an area popular with Huguenot artists and designers. Augustin’s son Samuel and daughter-in-law Louisa continued the family business. Their pieces are in the more sculptural style known as Rococo, in contrast with the simplicity of Augustin’s silver.