Images(10)

Sauceboat

Dateca. 1768

Maker Christian's Factory

Maker Philip Christian

OriginEngland, Liverpool

MediumSoft-paste porcelain

Dimensionslength 6 1/2"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number2004-60

DescriptionSauceboat. Pleat-molded soft-paste porcelain sauceboat with pedestal foot and landscape scenes in blue painted on each side in reserves. Floral decoration in blue, painted on interior.
Label TextDigs at the Hubard House site on Francis Street here in Williamsburg uncovered fragments nearly identical to this intact sauceboat. The 18th century version of a gravy boat, the sauceboat form was meant to be used at the dinner service and derives its shape from silver examples copied in many different ceramic bodies.

English porcelain was the height of luxury and would have been even more expensive than exotic Chinese porcelain examples in the period. The archaeological sauceboat may have graced the table of James and Frances Hubard who purchased the property from Philip Grymes in 1774. The intact example and the fragments reveal the use of molds in their fabrication and both the molded and painted decoration are diagnostic features of the objects' manufactory origin.

Exhibition(s)