Property of A NEW YORK COLLECTOR
A GERMAN SILVER SOUP TUREEN, COVER AND STAND MADE FOR FREDERICK AUGUSTUS III

Details
A GERMAN SILVER SOUP TUREEN, COVER AND STAND MADE FOR FREDERICK AUGUSTUS III
MAKER'S MARK OF CARL DAVID SCHRÖDEL, DRESDEN, CIRCA 1770

The bombe body raised on four massive foliate scroll feet, with undulating rim and two leaf-clad scroll handles, the domed cover chased with similar foliage and with bud finial; the shaped oval stand with molded rim and conforming handles, engraved under the base and on the reverse of stand with the Royal monogram under an electoral bonnet, struck under base and on reverse of stand with town mark, and maker's mark, also numbered 4 and with scratch weight, 18,Inr:-lt:1.qs:-dr: (tureen) and 8, Inr: 1. lt: 2. qs: - dr: (stand)--the stand 21in. (53.5cm.) long
(195oz., 6091gr.)
Provenance
Jacob Goldschmidt
Literature
Ulli Arnold, Dresdner Hofsilber des 18.Jahrhunderts, Dresden, 1994, p. 7, where identical tureens in the dining room at Schloss Moritzburg are illustrated.

Lot Essay

The cypher is that of Frederick Augustus III, The Just, (1750-1827) who succeeded his father, Frederick Christian, in 1763. Frederick Christian, the third son of Augustus II, had reigned for a mere two months. A Regency was set up which governed Saxony until Frederick Augustus's coming-of-age in 1768. Although he was forced to retrench to pay the vast debts incurred by his grandfather and great-grandfather, Frederick Augustus nevertheless added to the already prodigious silver holdings in the Hofsilberkammer. In 1791 he was offered the crown of Poland but he declined, remembering the ravages Saxony had endured during the Silesian Wars. After the Napoleonic Wars his kingdom was partitioned and, while two-thirds went to Prussia, he was allowed the remaining third and to retain his title of King. He was succeeded in 1827 by his brother Anton I.