Digby Scott and Benjamin Smith for Rundell, Bridge & Rundell

British; English, Regency

Sauce boat on stand, 1806

Silver

22.8 x 14 x 22.6 cm

Collection of the Winnipeg Art Gallery; Gift of an anonymous donor

2004-3 a-d

Categories:

Metallic, Decorative Arts Silver

These magnificent Egyptian Revival sauceboats were designed by Jean-Jacques Boileau, a French artist assisting in the decoration of Carlton House, the London residence of the Prince Regent, later George IV (1762–1830). They are nearly identical to those in Queen Elizabeth II’s Grand Service, commissioned originally by George IV. The WAG pieces, however, carry the crest, coronet, and motto of Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk (1771–1820), who was responsible for the arrival of Manitoba’s first pioneers, the Selkirk Settlers. In 1812 Selkirk purchased land in the vicinity of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers, known as Assiniboia. The city of Winnipeg emerged from the nucleus of the original Red River Settlement.