Pair of duck tureens

Description

The Paul Hannong factory owed its success to its policy of employing potters, painters and modellers from the best faience and porcelain centers of Germany. There is a solid sensuality to the table decorations that the factory was famous for: covered vessels in the shape of boars' heads, wild and domesticated fowl accompanied by white cabbage and salad, and plates with all kinds of decorative foodstuffs. The painting of this ware was exceptionally refined and exploited every nuance of the technique of painting in enamel colours to define the robust forms of the dishes. Tureens such as these, on a table or sideboard, would hardly have been convenient for serving warm food as the complex shapes of the covers made their removal and replacement difficult. More often, smaller dishes, perhaps containing duck or boar pate, would have been placed inside until they were due to be served.