拍品專文
The present dinner-plates come from a part of an extensive silver dinner-service used by the Hanoverian Court at the Palace of Herrenhausen. The original service was made by Robert-Joseph Auguste between 1776 and 1785. The service was extensively added to by Hanoverian makers including Bunsen and Neubel (see Christie's New York, 18 October 1995, lot 198 and the Patino collection, Christie's New York, 28 October 1986, lots 245 and 246).
Although George III never visited his German possessions, the palace at Herrenhausen was well maintained for state occasions. It is not known if George III commissioned the present service directly from Auguste, but the fact that it was made over a ten-year period would suggest that George III may have acquired this service after it was completed, possibly just after the French Revolution when many such services came on the market. Indeed, Timothy Schroder notes that stylistically "the service was comparatively conservative by the time it was supplied to George III" (Silver at Partridge, October 1994 cat. no. 22, pp. 32-33). Moreover, if the service had been specifically ordered for the Court at Herrenhausen it would presumably have been large enough for court functions from the outset and would not have needed the substantial number of Hanoverian additions. The fact that George III's engraved initials on both the French and German pieces is in a consistent German style supports this theory. The design of two other French dinner-services is similar to the George III service - one made in 1775-1776 for Count Creutz, now in the Royal Palace in Stockolm and another made for the Empress Catherine the Great between 1776 and 1778, now in the Kremlin, Moscow.
Other items from this service include twenty-three French pieces now in the Louvre, Paris from the Rothschild Collection. A further twenty pieces, both French and German, were acquired by Louis Cartier and sold by Sotheby's, Monaco, 27 November 1979, lots 821-840. Pieces from this sale are in the Getty Museum, Malibu and private collections.
Although George III never visited his German possessions, the palace at Herrenhausen was well maintained for state occasions. It is not known if George III commissioned the present service directly from Auguste, but the fact that it was made over a ten-year period would suggest that George III may have acquired this service after it was completed, possibly just after the French Revolution when many such services came on the market. Indeed, Timothy Schroder notes that stylistically "the service was comparatively conservative by the time it was supplied to George III" (Silver at Partridge, October 1994 cat. no. 22, pp. 32-33). Moreover, if the service had been specifically ordered for the Court at Herrenhausen it would presumably have been large enough for court functions from the outset and would not have needed the substantial number of Hanoverian additions. The fact that George III's engraved initials on both the French and German pieces is in a consistent German style supports this theory. The design of two other French dinner-services is similar to the George III service - one made in 1775-1776 for Count Creutz, now in the Royal Palace in Stockolm and another made for the Empress Catherine the Great between 1776 and 1778, now in the Kremlin, Moscow.
Other items from this service include twenty-three French pieces now in the Louvre, Paris from the Rothschild Collection. A further twenty pieces, both French and German, were acquired by Louis Cartier and sold by Sotheby's, Monaco, 27 November 1979, lots 821-840. Pieces from this sale are in the Getty Museum, Malibu and private collections.