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拍品專文
Grand Duke Mikhail Mikhailovich of Russia (1861-1929) was the great-great-grandson of Catherine the Great, grandson of Tsar Nicolas I and second cousin of Nicolas II, the last of the Tsars.
While in Nice in 1891 Grand Duke Mikhail met Countess Sophie of Merenberg, later de Torby (1868-1927), grand-daughter of the poet Alexander Pushkin. Their morganatic marriage that shortly followed was contrary to the statute of the Imperial Family, which required that consorts of Russian dynasts be of equal birth, and caused great scandal at the Russian court. Grand Duke Mikhail was subsequently deprived of his military rank and of his position as adjutant at the Imperial Court.
Exiled, the couple temporarily resided at Countess Sophie's estate at Wiesbaden in Hesse before, no doubt drawn by the sunnier climes and missing the glamour of the Belle Epoque Côte d'Azur, settling in Cannes where they had a villa, named Kazbek, after the mountain in Georgia. Counting most of the crowned heads of Europe among their relations, the couple travelled extensively before settling in England to raise their young family. Maintaining their royal position, Grand Duke Mikhail and Countess de Torby took residence at Keele Hall in Staffordshire around 1900, before deciding upon even grander surrounds and leasing Kenwood House in Hampstead from 1910. Both houses are of sufficiently grand proportions to accommodate a desk of such impressive scale and it is thought that the present lot dates from this period. Similarities may be noted between the elaborate carving adorning the desk and the decorative scheme of the mock-Elizabethan Keele Hall.
Suitably housed to entertain in the grandest of fashions, Kenwood witnessed the glittering weddings of the Grand Duke's daughters; firstly Countess Nadejda (or Zada) to Prince George of Battenberg (elder brother of the Earl Mountbatten of Burma and, later, Marquess of Milford Haven) in 1916, and the following year, Countess Anastasia (or Zia) to Harold Wernher (later Sir Harold Werhner, Bt. of Luton Hoo).
A shadow must have been cast over the celebrations by the Russian revolution, to which Grand Duke Mikhail lost his brother and much of his fortune. As such, with their daughters established in English society and in reduced circumstances, it was around this time that Grand Duke Mikhail and the Countess de Torby moved to 3 Cambridge Gate, Regent's Park. It is not known if the desk accompanied them or whether it become the property of Countess Zada, under whose care it was presumably applied with the Milford Haven label. There is also some speculation that the desk might have been returned to the Villa Kazbek which continued to be maintained for the family's use after 1917.
Perhaps passing directly from Countess Zada to her sister, the desk is by the 1960s known to have entered the collection of Lady Zia Wernher at Luton Hoo. One of the great households of post-war Britain, Luton Hoo was home to the magnificent Wernher Collection of pictures, furniture and works of art and is where the desk remained in the personal use of Sir Harold Wernher Bt.
While in Nice in 1891 Grand Duke Mikhail met Countess Sophie of Merenberg, later de Torby (1868-1927), grand-daughter of the poet Alexander Pushkin. Their morganatic marriage that shortly followed was contrary to the statute of the Imperial Family, which required that consorts of Russian dynasts be of equal birth, and caused great scandal at the Russian court. Grand Duke Mikhail was subsequently deprived of his military rank and of his position as adjutant at the Imperial Court.
Exiled, the couple temporarily resided at Countess Sophie's estate at Wiesbaden in Hesse before, no doubt drawn by the sunnier climes and missing the glamour of the Belle Epoque Côte d'Azur, settling in Cannes where they had a villa, named Kazbek, after the mountain in Georgia. Counting most of the crowned heads of Europe among their relations, the couple travelled extensively before settling in England to raise their young family. Maintaining their royal position, Grand Duke Mikhail and Countess de Torby took residence at Keele Hall in Staffordshire around 1900, before deciding upon even grander surrounds and leasing Kenwood House in Hampstead from 1910. Both houses are of sufficiently grand proportions to accommodate a desk of such impressive scale and it is thought that the present lot dates from this period. Similarities may be noted between the elaborate carving adorning the desk and the decorative scheme of the mock-Elizabethan Keele Hall.
Suitably housed to entertain in the grandest of fashions, Kenwood witnessed the glittering weddings of the Grand Duke's daughters; firstly Countess Nadejda (or Zada) to Prince George of Battenberg (elder brother of the Earl Mountbatten of Burma and, later, Marquess of Milford Haven) in 1916, and the following year, Countess Anastasia (or Zia) to Harold Wernher (later Sir Harold Werhner, Bt. of Luton Hoo).
A shadow must have been cast over the celebrations by the Russian revolution, to which Grand Duke Mikhail lost his brother and much of his fortune. As such, with their daughters established in English society and in reduced circumstances, it was around this time that Grand Duke Mikhail and the Countess de Torby moved to 3 Cambridge Gate, Regent's Park. It is not known if the desk accompanied them or whether it become the property of Countess Zada, under whose care it was presumably applied with the Milford Haven label. There is also some speculation that the desk might have been returned to the Villa Kazbek which continued to be maintained for the family's use after 1917.
Perhaps passing directly from Countess Zada to her sister, the desk is by the 1960s known to have entered the collection of Lady Zia Wernher at Luton Hoo. One of the great households of post-war Britain, Luton Hoo was home to the magnificent Wernher Collection of pictures, furniture and works of art and is where the desk remained in the personal use of Sir Harold Wernher Bt.