A SET OF TWELVE GERMAN SILVER DINNER-PLATES FROM THE HARDENBERG SERVICE

MARK OF EMMANUEL ABRAHAM DRENTWETT, AUGSBURG, CIRCA 1755-1760

Details

A SET OF TWELVE GERMAN SILVER DINNER-PLATES FROM THE HARDENBERG SERVICE
MARK OF EMMANUEL ABRAHAM DRENTWETT, AUGSBURG, CIRCA 1755-1760
Each shaped circular and with reeded, shell and scroll borders, later engraved with monogram 'GRIII' with Royal crown above, each marked underneath with maker's mark only, further engraved scratchweights '14 Lötig M2:8.3'; '14 Lötig M2.9.1'; '14 Lötig M.2.8.3.1'; '14 Lötig M.2.9.1'; '14 Lötig M.2.8.1.3'; '14 Lötig M.2.9.3.2'; '14 Lötig M.8.1'; '14 Lötig M.2.8.3'; '14 Lötig M.2.8-.1'; '14 Lötig M.2.10.3.-'; '14 Lötig M.2.10-.-.' and '14 Lötig M.2.10.-.3', further marked with later French tax mark

10 ¼ in. (26.5 cm.) diameter
226 oz. 2 dwt. (7,032 gr.)
The monogram is that of King George III of Great Britain and Elector of Hanover (r.1760-1820).

Provenance

Friedrich Karl von Hardenberg (1696-1763).
Purchased from his sister-in-law in March 1779 by the Hanover Court.

Literature

L. Seelig, 'Das Silberservice König Georgs III. Von Robert-Joseph Auguste und Frantz Peter Bundsen: zur Goldschmiedekunst des frühen klassizimus in Paris, London, und Hannover', Müncher Jahrbuch der bildenden Kunst, 2007, vol. 58, pp. 141-206.
L. Seelig, 'The King George III Silver Service by Robert-Joseph Auguste and Frantz-Peter Bundsen: Goldsmiths' Art in the Neo-Classical Style in Paris, London and Hanover', Journal of the Silver Society of Canada, 2010, vol. 13, pp. 66-67.
L. Seelig, 'The King George III Silver Service', The Journal of the Silver Society, 2012, no. 28, pp. 87-89, figs. 16a-16c.

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Lot Essay

These plates are part of a French and German service ordered by Friedrich Karl von Hardenberg (1696-1763). A Hanoverian courtier, he was appointed in 1741 head of the royal gardens and building department in Hanover. The service included Parisian made silver and additions were ordered during his lifetime and later by his sister-in-law in Augsburg and Hanover. The service was sold in March 1779 to the court for 7,471 reichstaler, 4 groschen, 5 pfennig. As Seelig discusses in his 2010 and 2012 articles 'The King George III Silver Service...', the plates are not marked with the Augsburg town mark but are engraved with '14 Lotig' denoting a fineness of 87.5%.

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