MARK OF ROBERT-JOSEPH AUGUSTE, PARIS, 1782; TOGETHER WITH TWO MODERN EXAMPLES

Details

A SET OF TEN LOUIS XVI SILVER SECOND-COURSE DISHES
MARK OF ROBERT-JOSEPH AUGUSTE, PARIS, 1782; TOGETHER WITH TWO MODERN EXAMPLES
Each shaped circular hexafoil, the rims with ribbon-tied laurel moldings, three engraved with Russian Imperial armorials, the bases prick-engraved No. 3 and stamped 3, marked under rims: charge, date-letter (T) and maker; on the rims: decharge for objects going abroad; with later French control marks; together with two modern examples, apparently unmarked
28.5 cm. (11 ¼ in.) diameter
368 oz. 7 dwt. (11,458 gr.)

Provenance

Empress Catherine II of Russia (1729-1796), then by descent to her son,
Paul I of Russia (1754-1801) recalled to St Petersburg in 1797, then by descent,
The Winter Palace, St Petersburg until sold by the Soviet Government.
with Jacques Helft, Paris, circa 1942.
Jaime Ortiz-Patiño (1930-2013)
The Patiño Collection; Sotheby's, New York, 21 May 1992, lot 127.
Acquired from the above sale by the Blaquier-Arrieta Family.

Literature

Baron A. de Foelkersam, Inventaire de l'Argenterie conservéee dans les garde-meubles des Palais Impériaux, 1907, vol. I, p. V; vol. II, pp. 167-174.

Conditions of sale

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Lot Essay

THE MOSCOW SERVICE
The Moscow service was the last of the twenty-two gubernatorial services commissioned by Empress Catherine the Great and one of the largest. Designed for forty settings and weighing a total of 2,351 mark. 4 oz. 3 gr. (approximatively 575 kg) for a total cost of 232,200 livres, it was made by Robert-Joseph Auguste and was delivered between 1782 and 1783.

Empress Catherine the Great was heavily involved in the design of the Moscow Service, writing to her agent Friedrich Melchior Grimm in 1780 regarding her preference for restrained architectural forms as opposed to foliate or figural decoration. Auguste's response was the classical compositions seen on the present lot, as well as the Ekaterinoslav, Kazan, and Nizhny Novgorod Services he also supplied for Empress Catherine the Great of Russia's imperial court.

The Moscow Service is documented in Foelkersam’s 1907 inventory, with the sixteen second course dishes listed under “Ct. 189” with a total weight of 36 lbs. 86 z. (vol. II p. 171).

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