This tureen is after a design created by the celebrated French silversmith and designer Robert Joseph Auguste which was reinterpreted by King George III's architect Sir William Chambers. It appears to be a matching pair to and example by Thomas Pitts made for the same family and dated 1770, sold Sotheby's, New York, . In common with the tureen by Pitts this example has the identical arms suggesting that the 2^nd Baronet either re-engraved his arms over those of his father and a copy made to match, or possibly that he acquired the Pitts tureen second-hand and had a copy mad, both were then engraved with his arms.

This design for this tureen was produced Auguste during his most productive years in the highly developed Neo-Classical style, as promoted by Charles Nicolas Cochin (1715-1790), the engraver, designer, art critic and opponent of the Rococo style. This model epitomises the very greatest of Auguste's works from the mid 1770s. Auguste realised several variations of this model with minor differences including a pot à oille dated 1771 for the Hanoverian minister in Paris Otto von Bloehme (sold Christie's Geneva, 26 April 1977, lot 306) and a pair of pots à oille formerly in the collection of Michel Ephrussi (1844-1914).

Sir Thomas Neave 2nd Bt. (1761-1848) was a Fellow of the Royal Society and travelled extensively on the Continent. He acquired many works of art including a considerable quantity of stained glass thought to have come from Louvain Cathedral. Amongst his acquisitions of plate were a magnificent pair of Dutch silver wall sconces by the 17th century master goldsmith Adrian Van Vianen dated 1622, illustrated in J. W. Fredericks, Dutch Silver, vol 1.