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Lot Essay
Although previously attributed to Meissen, this box was almost certainly made at Fürstenberg as Philippine Charlotte's husband, Duke Carl I of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel, founded the factory at Fürstenberg in 1747.
Philippine Charlotte and Frederick The Great were born into a very large family and their father, Friedrich Wilhelm I, King in Prussia, was a severe, military, miserly and despotic king who was apparently indifferent to culture. Charlotte was more lucky with her father's affections than her brother Frederick; she was nick-named 'Lotte' or 'Sans Souci', and she and her younger brother, August Wilhelm, were her father's favourites. Frederick, on the other hand, suffered from his father's increasing mistrust of his interest in the arts and his taste for the luxurious, and he was eventually imprisoned by him.
Friedrich Wilhelm was anxious to form closer links with the Braunschweig-Bevern family, and as part of a diplomatic arrangement with the Duke of Bevern (then heir to the Dukedom of Brunswick), it was arranged that 'Lotte' should marry the Duke's eldest son, Carl (later Duke Carl I), and also that Frederick (The Great) should marry Bevern's daughter, Elisabeth Christine. Both couples were married in the same year, 1733.
Of Frederick The Great's siblings, his elder sister Wilhelmina, later the Margravine of Bayreuth, was the closest to him and they corresponded constantly. But after Wilhelmina's death in 1758, Charlotte, who had also always been one of Frederick's favourites, became even closer to him. The battle scenes decorating this box are probably intended to refer to the Seven Year's War (1756-1763), which Frederick had won against all odds. The box most probably dates from the period between the end of the war and Charlotte's visit to Frederick in 1764. Interestingly, this is the period when Frederick had just bought his porcelain factory from the bankrupt merchant and financier Gotzkowsky (1763).
Philippine Charlotte and Frederick The Great were born into a very large family and their father, Friedrich Wilhelm I, King in Prussia, was a severe, military, miserly and despotic king who was apparently indifferent to culture. Charlotte was more lucky with her father's affections than her brother Frederick; she was nick-named 'Lotte' or 'Sans Souci', and she and her younger brother, August Wilhelm, were her father's favourites. Frederick, on the other hand, suffered from his father's increasing mistrust of his interest in the arts and his taste for the luxurious, and he was eventually imprisoned by him.
Friedrich Wilhelm was anxious to form closer links with the Braunschweig-Bevern family, and as part of a diplomatic arrangement with the Duke of Bevern (then heir to the Dukedom of Brunswick), it was arranged that 'Lotte' should marry the Duke's eldest son, Carl (later Duke Carl I), and also that Frederick (The Great) should marry Bevern's daughter, Elisabeth Christine. Both couples were married in the same year, 1733.
Of Frederick The Great's siblings, his elder sister Wilhelmina, later the Margravine of Bayreuth, was the closest to him and they corresponded constantly. But after Wilhelmina's death in 1758, Charlotte, who had also always been one of Frederick's favourites, became even closer to him. The battle scenes decorating this box are probably intended to refer to the Seven Year's War (1756-1763), which Frederick had won against all odds. The box most probably dates from the period between the end of the war and Charlotte's visit to Frederick in 1764. Interestingly, this is the period when Frederick had just bought his porcelain factory from the bankrupt merchant and financier Gotzkowsky (1763).