TWO RUSSIAN (ST. PETERSBURG) TOPOGRAPHICAL MONTIETHS

Details

TWO RUSSIAN (ST. PETERSBURG) TOPOGRAPHICAL MONTIETHS
CIRCA 1800 (PAUL I), BLUE CROWNED P MARK

Of oval form with molded gilt female mask handles, painted in colors with oval panels of rustic landscapes named in French on the underside, one with 'Vue de la Chapelle et du Champ de Bataille de Sembach' and 'Vue des L'abbaye de Rheinau' the other with 'Vue des rochers de la Favorotta' on both sides, named on the underside, intersecting with a strapwork band of roses against an iron-red ground alternating with grisaille rosettes, the dentil rim with similar grisaille rosettes and outlines with a gilt foliate band overall (one with slight scratching to the interior, both with scratching to the gilt masks, minimal wear to gilding) --11½in. (29.2cm.) wide (2)

Lot Essay

The present montieths from a service probably made for the dowry of Maria Feodorovna, né Sophia Dorothea von Württemberg, upon her marriage to Grand Duke Paul, son of Catherine the Great. This service, often mistakenly described as the Cabinet Service, should properly be referred to as the Saxe-Weimar Service. The Cabinet Service is virtually identical in shape, palette and design but has a variant border of solid flowers, rather than the panelled arrangement of alternating single flowers within lozenges and shaped rectangular cartouches painted on the present coolers. A tureen, cover and stand from the Saxe-Weimar Service was formerly in the collection of Marjorie Merriweather Post at 'Hillwood', Washington, D.C..