Soup tureen

Nils Enberg, Turku, 1766. Height 35 cm.

This tureen, which takes perfect advantage of rococo forms, has a strongly protuberant bowl, and the lid has been divided into sectors with wave lines, typical of rococo. The cartouche-like feet and the handles at the ends are cast, as is the plastic asparagus tip serving as a knob on top of the lid.

Nils Enberg (active in Turku in 1752–1779) began as an apprentice in Stockholm and gained his journeyman’s qualifications in 1746. When Johan Wittfooth moved to Sweden in 1752, Enberg managed his workshop and conducted his masterwork in 1752. Enberg’s widow continued the practice in 1779–1782, while their son Nils Enberg practiced as a journeyman. The rococo objects made by Nils Enberg are among the silver objects with the highest quality made in Turku. This soup tureen is the most extravagant silver object made in Finland in the 18th century.

The soup tureen originally belonged to the governor of Kymmenegård County, Lieutenant Colonel Johan Herman Lode (1739–1817). The Finnish Government bought the soup tureen in 1975 and gave it to President of the Republic Urho Kekkonen when he turned 75.

Source:

Fagerström 2000, s. 62–63. Borg 1972 (1935), s. 70–71.