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Article: Royal gravy: Governor Patrick Gordon's silver sauceboats.
- Article from:
- The Magazine Antiques
- Article date:
- January 1, 1997
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 Brant Publications, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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In the decorative arts, many factors must come together to define that happy occurrence called a masterpiece. Certainly an object's aesthetics are paramount, but rarity, craftsmanship, condition, provenance, and historical context all come into play. Curators, collectors, and scholars all apply their personal emphasis in assessing a piece, shuffling and comparing factors to gauge its importance. Rarely do all these considerations coincide equally to place an object on the masterpiece pedestal.
They do so brilliantly in the pair of American baroque sauceboats illustrated here, made by the New York silversmith Charles Le Roux and owned by Patrick Gordon, the provincial ...