A DANISH SILVER TEA-URN OF RUSSIAN IMPERIAL INTEREST

Details

A DANISH SILVER TEA-URN OF RUSSIAN IMPERIAL INTEREST
MAKER'S MARK OF MICHELSON, COPENHAGEN, 1907

The reeded shaped octagonal plinth on four paw feet with detchable central burner, the partly fluted body on four fluted supports with lions mask drop ring handles and straight tap with ivory spigot and partly fluted cover with ivory finial, the interior with muslin strainer frame; sold with letters of authentification from Prince Dimitri of Russia, and Edward, Duke of Windsor
14½ in. (37cm.) high

Provenance

H.I.H. The Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia and her sister H.R.H. Queen Alexandra of Great Britain, Villa Hvidore (until 1928)
H.I.H Grand Duchess Xenia of Russia
Prince Dimitri of Russia (until 1959)

Lot Essay

In their youth, the Dowager Empress of Russia and her sister, the Queen of Great Britain, had been given the Villa Hvidore outside of Copenhagen by their father King Christian IX of Denmark. The two sisters used the estate as their personal retreat during their lives, and after the Russian Revolution, the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna (neé Dagmar of Denmark) and her daughter Grand Duchess Olga made it their permanent residence when not in Copenhagen. After Maria Feodorovna's death in 1928 the villa and its contents were sold, save for a few personal pieces kept by the Romanovs and the Windsors. This tea-urn was left in turn to Grand Duchess Olga, and thence to Prince Dimitri of Russia.