An exceptionally fine and rare George III Toasting/Warming Dish made in London in 1807 by William Stroud.

The Dish is rectangular in form, with an everted rim decoarted with gadrooning. The domed cover terminates in a reeded Classical urn finial and is engraved with a contemporary Crest, below the Coronet of a Baron. This example has a turned fruitwood side handle and the bottom of the dish has a hot water jacket which can be filled by unscewing the handle. The chain on the handle can be attached to the finial, so that the cover remains upright. This piece also, unusually, has six interior removable pans, which each have small carrying handles. The dish is fully marked on the main body, cover and all of the pans. The Cheese Dish is in exceptionally fine condition, as are all of the pans.



The Dish also has an important provenance as the Crest and Coronet are those of Lord Granville Leveson-Gower, younger son of the 1st Marquis of Stafford. His elder brother, the 2nd Marquis, was created 1st Duke of Sutherland. Granville was raised to the Peerage, in his own right, as Baron Levison of Stone in 1814, Viscount Granville in 1825 and the 1st Earl Granville in 1833. He was born in 1773 and eductaed at Christ Church Oxford, DCL, 1799. He was a Lord of the Treasury 1800-1801, Ambassador to St. Petersburg 1804-05. He was subsequently Ambassador to the Hague and finally to Paris, where he spent the remainder of his career. He married Harriet, daughter of the celebrated Georgiana Duchess of Devonshire and her husband the 5th Duke of Chatsworth House, Derbyshire. Portraits of the Earl and Countess Granville are shown.



Among the innovations of the late 18th century and early 19th century were specialised dishes for toasting and warming. This piece is equipped with a hot water jacket, which is filled through the conical socket, with a removable wooden handle. The contents of the pans are then kept warm from the heated base. The cover was raised to an angle and secured with a silver chain affixed to a ring on the finial and hooked to another ring on the handle. The reflective interior of the cover aided the process of toasting the contents of the pans.



Length: 9 inches, 22.5cm.

Width: 6.6 inches, 16.5cm.

Height, to the top of the finial: 3.5 inches, 8.75cm.

Weight: 52oz.