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Lot Essay
These soap and sponge boxes were made at the height of Robert-Joseph Auguste's career, possibly for the Duchess of Oldenburg, Princess Ulrike Friederike Wilhelmine of Hesse-Kassel (1722-1787).
A master since 1757, Auguste was appointed orfèvre ordinaire du roi in 1777, providing items for the Garde-Meuble de la Couronne. He had also started creating services for international patrons including Christian VII of Denmark in 1769, the Comte de Creutz, Swedish Ambassador to France in 1775-1776, George III as Prince-elector of Hanover in 1777. He had commenced the first commissions for Empress Catherine the Great.
These boxes would have once been part of a dressing service that would have included a ewer, basin, candlesticks, mirror and boxes. The exhibition catalogue Three Centuries of French Domestic Silver directed by F. Dennis at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1960, vol. 1, p. 41- to 43, illustrate elements of a toilet service of a similar design to the present boxes by Auguste also dated 1777 and which include a pair of pomade jars and tray, a root box, a sponge bowl, a toilet jar, a toilet box, a pair of candlesticks and a casket. The root box and the pair of pomade jars and tray were previously exhibited in L'Orfèvrerie civile en France aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles, Galerie Lucien Blanc, Aix-en-Provence, 10 juillet-10 août 1954, p. 17, no. 45 and 46, ill.p. 47, and described in the catalogue as having belonged to the Duchess of Oldenburg presumably for Princess Ulrike Friederike Wilhelmine of Hesse-Kassel (1722-1787) who assumed the title from 1774.
Recently another similar casket from the collection of Stephane Faniel historian for Maison Christofle was sold at Drouot with Jean-Marc Delvaux, 29 March 2022, lot 94.
This raises the question as to whether all these elements belonged to the same dressing service and did indeed belong to the Duchess of Oldenburg.
A master since 1757, Auguste was appointed orfèvre ordinaire du roi in 1777, providing items for the Garde-Meuble de la Couronne. He had also started creating services for international patrons including Christian VII of Denmark in 1769, the Comte de Creutz, Swedish Ambassador to France in 1775-1776, George III as Prince-elector of Hanover in 1777. He had commenced the first commissions for Empress Catherine the Great.
These boxes would have once been part of a dressing service that would have included a ewer, basin, candlesticks, mirror and boxes. The exhibition catalogue Three Centuries of French Domestic Silver directed by F. Dennis at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1960, vol. 1, p. 41- to 43, illustrate elements of a toilet service of a similar design to the present boxes by Auguste also dated 1777 and which include a pair of pomade jars and tray, a root box, a sponge bowl, a toilet jar, a toilet box, a pair of candlesticks and a casket. The root box and the pair of pomade jars and tray were previously exhibited in L'Orfèvrerie civile en France aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles, Galerie Lucien Blanc, Aix-en-Provence, 10 juillet-10 août 1954, p. 17, no. 45 and 46, ill.p. 47, and described in the catalogue as having belonged to the Duchess of Oldenburg presumably for Princess Ulrike Friederike Wilhelmine of Hesse-Kassel (1722-1787) who assumed the title from 1774.
Recently another similar casket from the collection of Stephane Faniel historian for Maison Christofle was sold at Drouot with Jean-Marc Delvaux, 29 March 2022, lot 94.
This raises the question as to whether all these elements belonged to the same dressing service and did indeed belong to the Duchess of Oldenburg.