MARK OF SCHEGGI BROTHERS, FLORENCE, CIRCA 1825

The Borghese Service, comprising 500 silver-gilt objects primarily by the French Imperial silversmith Martin-Guillaume Biennais and over 1,000 pieces of table silver, was traditionally thought to have been a gift from Napoleon to his second sister Pauline Bonaparte (1780-1825) on the occasion of her marriage to Prince Camillo Borghese (1775-1832) in 1803. However, Biennais inscribed a number of pieces "Orfèvre de Lrs. Mtés. Impériales et Royales" indicating that most of the service post-dates 1805, when Napoleon was styled King of Italy. In addition, many of the French pieces have Paris hallmarks for 1809-1819. In the 1820s, Florentine and Roman silversmiths contributed objects to the service, designed after the original Biennais models. The service, which was probably split between Rome and Florence during the lifetime of Pauline and Camillo Borghese, was reunited at the Borghese Palace by 1892, when it was sold as one lot at the auction which dispersed the entire contents of the Palace.
The Scheggis were an important family of silversmiths in Florence, making commissions for Grand Duke Ferdinand III of Tuscany and publishing a number of silver designs in the Magazzino di Mobilia. The brothers Luigi and Vincenzo, and the latter's sons Angelo and Ferdinando, all used the mark found on the present wine coasters around 1825. Three sets of wine coasters from the Borghese service, one by Biennais, one by Scheggi and an unmarked Italian pair are discussed in Anthony Phillips and Jeanne Sloane, Antiquity Revisited, English and French Silver-Gilt from the Collection of Audrey Love, 1997, pp. 106-107.