A rare Bow moulded sauceboat c.1750

A rare Bow moulded sauceboat c.1750, the silver shape moulded with garlands of flowers and decorated with gilt peony sprays, raised on a circular foot moulded with further flowers, the handle formed as a scaly dragon with ears pricked and mouth agape to reveal his tongue and fangs, his narrow wings gripping the rim of the sauceboat, a chip to the end of his tail, a little restoration to the rim, 20cm across.

Cf. Anton Gabszewicz and Geoffrey Freeman, Bow Porcelain, p.41 for a plain example, which references a gilded example illustrated in Frank Hurlbutt, Bow Porcelain, pl.5. In her article for the Smithsonian Museum catalogue of 2008, Sarah D Coffin illustrated an identical sauceboat alongside a silver sauceboat with dragon handle dated 1742 and designed by Charles Freidrich Kändler who, it has been suggested, could be the brother of the Meissen modeller, Johann Joachim Kändler.