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拍品專文
The Royal Hanover court silver was first fully recorded in an inventory of 1747 which listed six different table services listed according to the number of tables they could accommodate. The table silver, which included dinner plates, dishes, knives, forks and spoons, table candlesticks, castors, sauceboats and other serving pieces, was complemented by its own buffet silver such as salvers, wine fountains, cisterns, ewers and basins. This 1747 inventory was compiled to update the previous partial record of 1739, which in its turn updated the inventory of 1727/28. This latter inventory, made on the instructions of King George II following the death of his father King George I (1660-1727), had become redundant due to the lack of descriptions, melting and additions. An Additamentum of 1730 listed various inheritances of George II including the Reise Argenterie, other silver from his father King George I, his mother Sophie Dorothea, Princess von Ahlden (1666-1726), his uncle Ernst August, Duke of York and Albany, Prince Bishop of Osnabrück (1674-1728) and the silver furnishings of his grandmother Electress Sophie (1630-1714) . The new record as well as including repairs and improvements made to the existing silver, created order by organising the various services into six letters A to F.
The A service for one table was composed of what was known as the Osnabrück A service (the Osnabrück B service was being divided amongst the new B, C and F services); the Osnabrück silver had consisted of three services of table and buffet silver, called A, B and C, as well as the silver furniture and lighting objects made between 1708 and 1728 by the Hanoverian court goldsmiths Hölling, Huntemann, Dedeke, and Mundt (Hanover) and Sander (Celle).
The B service for one table consisted of what was known as the English service in 1728 and thereafter simply the B service and would be largely melted to provide the metal for the new George III service made by Robert-Joseph Auguste and others in Paris, and Frantz Peter Bunsen and others in Hanover. The remainder was divided up after 1841 amongst other services and was replaced as service B by the Hardenberg service (previously service G).
The C service for two tables was the Osnabrück C service with additions from the Osnabrück B service, and was mostly executed by the Osnabrück goldsmith Vogdt, with elements by Morell and Prüsmann.
The service D for three tables was an amalgamation of two old services, the 1st and the Campagne service (for travelling in the country) which were put together because each was too big for one table and because they shared the same armorial engraving and initials G(eorge) L(ouis) C(hurfürst). The arms are those of George Louis Elector of Hanover, later George I, King of Great Britain and Ireland (1660-1714), relevant for a short period between 1692 when his father was created first Elector of Hanover and 1708, when George Louis was himself introduced to the college of Electors. Additions were made to this and the next service in 1724/25 and these pieces were engraved with the same armorials, by this time out of date.
The service E for five tables was called the 2nd service in the inventory of 1728. It was the same as service D, except that the latter had rims to the dishes and plates and the coats-of-arms were not flanked by palm fronds.
Service F was mostly composed of 12 lot silver (about 750 standard) used for hunts, which came from the services 4 and 5 of the estate of Ernest Augustus Elector of Hanover (1629-1698). Most of this stock was melted, ameliorated and used in other services.
This group is part of the additions made to ‘Service D’ in 1724/25 probably executed by Lewin Dedeke who according to the account of 1726/27 delivered knives, forks, spoons, candlesticks, a cistern and wine fountain, a centrepiece and wine bottles, whilst the engraving was done by the engravers Eland and Esau.
Lewin Dedeke (1660-1733) was appointed Hofgoldschmied, goldsmith for the court of Hanover, in 1697, a post he held until his death in 1733. The commissions from the Hanoverian court were so extensive in the prosperous years following the Allied defeat of the French at Blenheim in 1704, that several silversmiths were employed by the royal household. It appears that collaboration between masters, even on individual pieces, also took place during this period: Lewin Dedeke collaborated with another Hanover court goldsmith, Conrad Holling, from 1706 to 1727 (see W. Scheffler, Goldschmiede Niedersachsens, Berlin, 1965, p. 249).
The A service for one table was composed of what was known as the Osnabrück A service (the Osnabrück B service was being divided amongst the new B, C and F services); the Osnabrück silver had consisted of three services of table and buffet silver, called A, B and C, as well as the silver furniture and lighting objects made between 1708 and 1728 by the Hanoverian court goldsmiths Hölling, Huntemann, Dedeke, and Mundt (Hanover) and Sander (Celle).
The B service for one table consisted of what was known as the English service in 1728 and thereafter simply the B service and would be largely melted to provide the metal for the new George III service made by Robert-Joseph Auguste and others in Paris, and Frantz Peter Bunsen and others in Hanover. The remainder was divided up after 1841 amongst other services and was replaced as service B by the Hardenberg service (previously service G).
The C service for two tables was the Osnabrück C service with additions from the Osnabrück B service, and was mostly executed by the Osnabrück goldsmith Vogdt, with elements by Morell and Prüsmann.
The service D for three tables was an amalgamation of two old services, the 1st and the Campagne service (for travelling in the country) which were put together because each was too big for one table and because they shared the same armorial engraving and initials G(eorge) L(ouis) C(hurfürst). The arms are those of George Louis Elector of Hanover, later George I, King of Great Britain and Ireland (1660-1714), relevant for a short period between 1692 when his father was created first Elector of Hanover and 1708, when George Louis was himself introduced to the college of Electors. Additions were made to this and the next service in 1724/25 and these pieces were engraved with the same armorials, by this time out of date.
The service E for five tables was called the 2nd service in the inventory of 1728. It was the same as service D, except that the latter had rims to the dishes and plates and the coats-of-arms were not flanked by palm fronds.
Service F was mostly composed of 12 lot silver (about 750 standard) used for hunts, which came from the services 4 and 5 of the estate of Ernest Augustus Elector of Hanover (1629-1698). Most of this stock was melted, ameliorated and used in other services.
This group is part of the additions made to ‘Service D’ in 1724/25 probably executed by Lewin Dedeke who according to the account of 1726/27 delivered knives, forks, spoons, candlesticks, a cistern and wine fountain, a centrepiece and wine bottles, whilst the engraving was done by the engravers Eland and Esau.
Lewin Dedeke (1660-1733) was appointed Hofgoldschmied, goldsmith for the court of Hanover, in 1697, a post he held until his death in 1733. The commissions from the Hanoverian court were so extensive in the prosperous years following the Allied defeat of the French at Blenheim in 1704, that several silversmiths were employed by the royal household. It appears that collaboration between masters, even on individual pieces, also took place during this period: Lewin Dedeke collaborated with another Hanover court goldsmith, Conrad Holling, from 1706 to 1727 (see W. Scheffler, Goldschmiede Niedersachsens, Berlin, 1965, p. 249).