During the eighteenth century, tureens ceased to be mere vessels for the service of soup, stew, or sauce and became masterpieces of sculpture and trompe-l'oeil. Ceramic factories often modeled tureens in the form of game birds, ranging from a small partridge three inches wide to this life-size turkey. These clever table wares epitomized the eighteenth century's love of nature and novelty.
Manufacturer Strasbourg Hannong Factory, French
Title
  • Tureen in the Form of a Turkey
Date ca. 1755
Medium Tin-glazed earthenware with polychrome decoration
Dimensions Overall: 18 3/4 × 17 × 16 inches (47.6 × 43.2 × 40.6 cm)
Credit Line Founders Society Purchase, Mrs. Edsel B. Ford Fund
Accession Number 65.25
Department European Sculpture and Dec Arts
On View Fashionable Living: S330.2, Level 3 (see map)
Arenberg family (Schloss Clemenswerth, Germany);
Thomas Grange;
(Rosenberg & Stiebel, New York, New York, USA);
1965-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)
Wechsler, S. Low-fire Ceramics. New York, 1981, p. 33.

"Family Art Game," DIA Advertising Supplement, Detroit Free Press, June 4, 1978, p. 25 (ill.).

DIA Handbook. Detroit, 1971, p. 129.