.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich
Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich was the fourth son of Tsar Paul I and his wife Marie Feodorovna, Princess of Württemberg. 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 Württemberg by whom he had six daughters. He died in 1849 at the age of 51. Both Mikhail 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 Mikhail Pavlovich's huge commission, as their marks are found on differing but component parts of some of the same large objects.
Like so many 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. A substantial part of the service next appeared as a single lot at auction at Christie's in London in 1965.
Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich was the fourth son of Tsar Paul I and his wife Marie Feodorovna, Princess of Württemberg. 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 Württemberg by whom he had six daughters. He died in 1849 at the age of 51. Both Mikhail 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 Mikhail Pavlovich's huge commission, as their marks are found on differing but component parts of some of the same large objects.
Like so many 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. A substantial part of the service next appeared as a single lot at auction at Christie's in London in 1965.