拍品专文
The monogram is that of Frederick Augustus III (1750-1827) who succeeded his father Frederick Christian in 1763.
Frederick Christian reigned for only two months and a Regency was set up to govern until his successor came of age in 1768. Frederick Augustus, known as The Just, added to the silver in the Dresden Hofsilberkammer in spite of having to pay off the immense debts incurred by his predecessors. In 1791 he was offered the Polish crown but turned it down remembering the ravages suffered by Saxony in the Silesian Wars. After the Napoleonic Wars his kingdom was partitioned with two thirds going to Prussia but he retained the remainder and his title. (For Frederick Augustus III's portrait, see lot 224 in this catalogue).
There are at least two immense sets of candlesticks made for Frederick Augustus by Carl David Schrödel - one comprising 124 of which twelve were sold by Christie's New York, 18 October 1994, lot 48, and the other, from which the present candlesticks come. The candlesticks in the second set are larger and heavier and also include eight sold in these rooms, 26 April, 1977, lot 197, and a further ten sold by Habsburg-Feldman, Geneva, 11 November, 1987.
A similar engraved monogram on a silver dish by Carl David Schrödel in the Green Vaults, Dresden, is illustrated by Arnold, U. Dresdener Hofsilber des 18. Jarhunderts, Leipzig, 1994, fig. 18
Frederick Christian reigned for only two months and a Regency was set up to govern until his successor came of age in 1768. Frederick Augustus, known as The Just, added to the silver in the Dresden Hofsilberkammer in spite of having to pay off the immense debts incurred by his predecessors. In 1791 he was offered the Polish crown but turned it down remembering the ravages suffered by Saxony in the Silesian Wars. After the Napoleonic Wars his kingdom was partitioned with two thirds going to Prussia but he retained the remainder and his title. (For Frederick Augustus III's portrait, see lot 224 in this catalogue).
There are at least two immense sets of candlesticks made for Frederick Augustus by Carl David Schrödel - one comprising 124 of which twelve were sold by Christie's New York, 18 October 1994, lot 48, and the other, from which the present candlesticks come. The candlesticks in the second set are larger and heavier and also include eight sold in these rooms, 26 April, 1977, lot 197, and a further ten sold by Habsburg-Feldman, Geneva, 11 November, 1987.
A similar engraved monogram on a silver dish by Carl David Schrödel in the Green Vaults, Dresden, is illustrated by Arnold, U. Dresdener Hofsilber des 18. Jarhunderts, Leipzig, 1994, fig. 18