A grand tureen on stand characterizes the late neoclassical style popular during the early 19th century and would have made a striking display on a sideboard or dining table. The tureen’s form derived from the Warwick Vase, an ancient Roman marble artifact, whose discovery in Tivoli, Italy, in 1769–70, inspired many decorative arts of the period. Marked by New York silver and luxury goods merchant Baldwin Gardiner, this tureen features chased and repoussé work of broad flutes, acanthus foliage, flowers, and palmettes. An elaborate flower-bud finial graces the top.

Dutch-born merchant John Gerard Coster, first owner of this tureen, had a home on Broadway in New York City on a site that John Jacob Astor wanted for the construction of his famous Astor House Hotel. Coster held out, but finally sold his home about 1830, and built a new house at another location on Broadway designed by architects A. J. Davis and Ithiel Town. This tureen was probably among the furnishings of his new house.