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Lot Essay
Grand Duke Michael Pavlovich was the fourth son of Tsar Paul 1 and his wife Marie Feodorovna, Princess of Würtemberg. He received a military education and travelled extensively throughout Russia; he was appointed Commander of the Guards' Infantry Brigade, and took part in the war against Turkey to liberate Greece. He was awarded the Order of St. George and in 1831 became Chief of all Military Schools in Russia. He married his cousin Princess Helen of Würtemberg by whom he had six daughters. He died in 1849 at the age of 51.
It is difficult to imagine a more perfect setting for the vast silver-gilt dinner service ordered from Martin-Guillame Biennais and Jean-Charles Cahier by Grand Duke Michael Pavlovich than the latter's magnificent Russian neoclassical palace, designed by Carlo Rossi and now the home of the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg. Paid for in part by his father, Tsar Paul 1 (r.1798-1801) and then by his brothers, Tsar Alexander 1 (r.1801-1825) and Tsar Nicholas 1 (r.1825-1855), the palace cost some 9 million roubles to complete. It was built between 1819 and 1823 with every detail of the interior design being overseen by its great architect. Indeed the interiors were considered to be the finest in Russia until the reconstruction of the Hermitage in 1837 following a disastrous fire.
Both Michael and his elder brother Nicholas patronised the leading Parisian silversmiths of the day, among them Biennais and Cahier. Indeed, the two firms seem to have co-operated on Michael Pavlovitch's huge commission, as their marks are found on differing but component parts of some of the same large objects. It is thought that in 1821 Biennais, who had no likely successor, sold his business, including designs and archives, to Cahier. Although he was well placed with the restored Bourbon regime, Cahier's business eventually foundered and he went bankrupt in 1828.
It appears that, like so many artistic treasures in Russia, the service was confiscated, this time from the museum founded by Baron Stieglitz, following the Revolution and sold off by the Soviet Government in the 1920s or 1930s to raise much-needed foreign currency. It is interesting to note that the vastly wealthy Baron Stieglitz adopted a daughter who was said to be the illegitimate child of Grand Duke Michael Pavlovich.
A substantial part of the service next appeared as a single lot at auction at Christie's in London in 1965. Since then a number of pieces including a tea and coffee service and table silver have been sold off, while other pieces, such as the smaller tureens, have been re-united with it. Examples from the service can be found in the Hermitage, St. Petersburg and the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. By far the most significant item, a magnificent soup-tureen and cover, weighing some 14 kilos, by Cahier and clearly derived from a Percier and Fontaine design, remains as the centrepiece of the service that forms the present lot. The pair to it is to be found in the Santo Spirito Foundation in Lisbon.
We are grateful to Marina Lopato of the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg for information on the history of the Michael Pavlovich service in the 19th and early part of the 20th century.
It is difficult to imagine a more perfect setting for the vast silver-gilt dinner service ordered from Martin-Guillame Biennais and Jean-Charles Cahier by Grand Duke Michael Pavlovich than the latter's magnificent Russian neoclassical palace, designed by Carlo Rossi and now the home of the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg. Paid for in part by his father, Tsar Paul 1 (r.1798-1801) and then by his brothers, Tsar Alexander 1 (r.1801-1825) and Tsar Nicholas 1 (r.1825-1855), the palace cost some 9 million roubles to complete. It was built between 1819 and 1823 with every detail of the interior design being overseen by its great architect. Indeed the interiors were considered to be the finest in Russia until the reconstruction of the Hermitage in 1837 following a disastrous fire.
Both Michael and his elder brother Nicholas patronised the leading Parisian silversmiths of the day, among them Biennais and Cahier. Indeed, the two firms seem to have co-operated on Michael Pavlovitch's huge commission, as their marks are found on differing but component parts of some of the same large objects. It is thought that in 1821 Biennais, who had no likely successor, sold his business, including designs and archives, to Cahier. Although he was well placed with the restored Bourbon regime, Cahier's business eventually foundered and he went bankrupt in 1828.
It appears that, like so many artistic treasures in Russia, the service was confiscated, this time from the museum founded by Baron Stieglitz, following the Revolution and sold off by the Soviet Government in the 1920s or 1930s to raise much-needed foreign currency. It is interesting to note that the vastly wealthy Baron Stieglitz adopted a daughter who was said to be the illegitimate child of Grand Duke Michael Pavlovich.
A substantial part of the service next appeared as a single lot at auction at Christie's in London in 1965. Since then a number of pieces including a tea and coffee service and table silver have been sold off, while other pieces, such as the smaller tureens, have been re-united with it. Examples from the service can be found in the Hermitage, St. Petersburg and the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. By far the most significant item, a magnificent soup-tureen and cover, weighing some 14 kilos, by Cahier and clearly derived from a Percier and Fontaine design, remains as the centrepiece of the service that forms the present lot. The pair to it is to be found in the Santo Spirito Foundation in Lisbon.
We are grateful to Marina Lopato of the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg for information on the history of the Michael Pavlovich service in the 19th and early part of the 20th century.