Chinese Export Duck Tureen

When you’ve spent hours working on a soup or stew in the kitchen, it deserves nothing less than to be served in an antique or vintage soup tureen.

A large tureen is traditionally used to serve soup or chowder, while smaller tureens can be used to serve sauces. This serving dish is going to be an alluring and practical addition to your collection of serveware. Rather than serving from the hot pot directly from your stovetop, why not elevate the presentation with a tureen on the dinner table?

The word “tureen” comes from the Latin word “terra,” which means earth. This is because potters created the first tureens from ceramics and earthenware. Today, an antique ceramic tureen is going to bring a pop of color to your dining room, as you’ll find that ceramicists traditionally hand-painted their tureens, adorning the sides and lids with natural-world motifs and other decorative embellishments.

Silver tureens, on the other hand, are timelessly understated and will pair with all of your other serving bowls and tableware. We associate certain authentic period furniture with extravagance, and 18th-century serveware, such as Georgian tureens, will likely feature lobing and gadrooning around the body and rim. (Dinner was a big deal during the Georgian era.)

Setting the table should be as important as the meal itself. On 1stDibs, an extensive collection of sophisticated antique and vintage tureens features Victorian tureens, mid-century modern tureens, porcelain tureens and more.