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Lot Essay
By the 19th century the Busca family were amongst the wealthiest aristocrats in Milan and the surrounding region. Their rise began in the 17th century, being recognised as patricians of Milan in 1682. They added to their land holdings in the 18th century when they acquired the feudal lordship of Lomagna. It was said that on his death in 1870 Antonia Busca left an estate in excess of 9 million lira (A. L. Cardoza, Aristocrats in Bourgeois Italy: The Piedmontese Nobility, 1861-1930, Cambridge, 2002, p. 97, note 14). He was the son of Lodovico Busca and Maria Luigia, daughter of the Duke Gian Galeazzo Serbelloni. It was they who commissioned the Palladian villa in Lomagna that bears the family name and which has recently been restored.
It is unusual that such a prominent member of the Italian aristocracy should choose to commission such a magnificent dinner service from a Russian silversmith rather than one from Vienna, Rome or Milan itself. One possible connection to St. Petersburg may be through the Order of the Knights of Malta. Antonio Busca (d.1870), the probable owner of this dinner service, served as a knight of honour and devotion of Malta. Another Antonio Busca (1767-1834) served as Lieutenant Grand Master of the Order of Malta, a position subordinate only to the Grand Master himself, however, during Busca's tenure there was no Grand Master, the order having been driven from the island by Napoleon I in 1798. The knights were dispersed across Europe. A significant number gathered in St. Petersburg and elected Tsar Paul I as their Grand Master. It may be a coincidence that the date of the service falls around the date of the elder Busca's death. Could the service have been a gift to Busca family in honour of Antonio Buscsa's memory or perhaps a legacy.
Antonio Busca (d.1870) served as Ciambellano imperial and Consigliere di Stato and was associated with the Accademia di belle arti di Milan and the Accademia di San Luca di Roma. His position in Milanese society meant that when Napoleon III of France and King Victor Emmanuel entered the city accompanied by their troops in May 1859 Busca offered his palace to the King, as recorded in a report on the Italian warin the Pall Mall Gazette of 15 June 1859. Moreover during the third Italian War of Independence it was noted that 'The Duke Antonio Litta and the Marquis Busca have undertaken to provide for the wants of all those families on their estates who have sent soldiers to the war.' (Pall Mall Gazette, 15 May 1866).
It is unusual that such a prominent member of the Italian aristocracy should choose to commission such a magnificent dinner service from a Russian silversmith rather than one from Vienna, Rome or Milan itself. One possible connection to St. Petersburg may be through the Order of the Knights of Malta. Antonio Busca (d.1870), the probable owner of this dinner service, served as a knight of honour and devotion of Malta. Another Antonio Busca (1767-1834) served as Lieutenant Grand Master of the Order of Malta, a position subordinate only to the Grand Master himself, however, during Busca's tenure there was no Grand Master, the order having been driven from the island by Napoleon I in 1798. The knights were dispersed across Europe. A significant number gathered in St. Petersburg and elected Tsar Paul I as their Grand Master. It may be a coincidence that the date of the service falls around the date of the elder Busca's death. Could the service have been a gift to Busca family in honour of Antonio Buscsa's memory or perhaps a legacy.
Antonio Busca (d.1870) served as Ciambellano imperial and Consigliere di Stato and was associated with the Accademia di belle arti di Milan and the Accademia di San Luca di Roma. His position in Milanese society meant that when Napoleon III of France and King Victor Emmanuel entered the city accompanied by their troops in May 1859 Busca offered his palace to the King, as recorded in a report on the Italian warin the Pall Mall Gazette of 15 June 1859. Moreover during the third Italian War of Independence it was noted that 'The Duke Antonio Litta and the Marquis Busca have undertaken to provide for the wants of all those families on their estates who have sent soldiers to the war.' (Pall Mall Gazette, 15 May 1866).