Paul Storr Sterling Silver Soup Tureen with Crest

• 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.
• Tureen - Circular or oval, deep, covered bowl, used from the early 18th century for serving soup, sauce, vegetables or stew. As well as silver, tureens are also made in porcelain, pottery, and silver plate, Sauce tureens are smaller, plainer versions. The name derives from the French "terrine", meaning 'earthen vessel',
• Sterling Silver - Sterling silver is a mixture of 92.5% pure silver and 7.5% of another metal, usually copper. Fine silver is 99.9% pure silver, and is relatively soft and the addition of the very small amount of copper gives the metal enough strength and hardness to be worked into jewellery, decorative and household objects.
• Foliate - Decorated with leaves or leaf-like forms.

This item has been included into following indexes:

• soup plate - silver items 19
• Storr, Paul (England) - silver, maker or retailer 78
• tureens - silver items 69