Lot Essay
Lorenz BUller II was a member of the most important family of silversmiths working in Augsburg from the late 17th to the mid 18th centuries. Perhaps the Billers' greatest commission was the buffet of Royal display plate begun in 1698 for Friedrich I, King of Prussia, installed at the Charlottenburg Palace in Berlin. This Schaubuffet filled the wall facing the throne in the ceremonial Hall of Knights (Rittersaal), and was added to by King Friedrich Wilhelm I when he succeeded his father. The contents of the Biller Schaubuffet remaining in Berlin, now at Schloss Kopenick, include nine ewers with sculptural handles related to the present example. Lorenz Biller II's mark may be found on one of these ewers, as well as on three basins, a wine cooler, a pitcher, two sweetmeat boxes and an engraved terrestrial globe, all made for the Rittersaal at Charlottenburg. (Paul Seidel, Der Silber-und Goldschatz der Hohenzollern im Koniglichen Schloss zu Berlin, Berlin, 1905, nos. 3,5,6, 9, 13, 58 and 59).