Gilt-Bronze Mounted Marble Cassolette, Early 19th Century

• A/f, as Inspected - The letters "A/F" or "as inspected" as part of a description is the cataloguer's shorthand for "all faults" or "as found", meaning the item has some type of damage or deficiency, it is of uncertain date or provenance, and/or that the seller takes no responsibility for the completeness of the item or the accuracy of the description.
• Cassolette - The origins of the cassolette date back to medieval times, where they were commonly used to serve stews and other hot dishes at banquets and other formal occasions. In the 18th century, cassolette dishes began to be made from porcelain and were often decorated with ornate designs, making them popular as decorative pieces as well as functional serving dishes.
  
  During the 19th century, cassolette dishes became popular in French cuisine, where they were used to prepare and serve dishes such as cassolette de fruits de mer, a seafood stew, and cassolette de gibier, a game stew.
• Finial - An architectural decoration, found on the upper parts of of an object. On furniture they are usually found on pediments, canopies and shelf supports. On smaller ceramic or silver items, such as spoons, they may decorate the top of the item itself, or the lid or cover where they provide a useful handle for removal.
  
  Finials have a variety of shapes and forms. They may be urn-shaped, baluster shaped round or spiral, but usually taper into an upper point. Many real life shapes may also be used as finials, such as pineapples, berries, pinecones, buds, lotus and acorns. Sometimes animals such as a lion are depicted, or fish and dolphins.

This item has been included into following indexes:

• cassolettes, ewers, tazza 46
• urns, cassolettes and vases, decorative (singles) - ormolu, marble, bronze porcelain etc. 96