MARK OF LEWIN DEDEKE, CELLE, LATE 17TH CENTURY

SOPHIA DOROTHEA OF HANOVER

The SD cypher with electoral bonnet above is almost certainly for Sophia Dorothea, Electoral Princess of Hanover (1666-1726). She was the daughter of Georg Wilhelm, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneberg (1624-1705) and Eléonore Desmier d’Olbreuse (1639-1722) a French aristocrat. As the couple’s only child she was heiress to the duchy of Brunswick-Lüneberg and her marriage to Georg Ludwig of Hanover, later King George I of Great Britain, in 1682 united the destiny of the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneberg with that of Hanover. This greatly assisted the wish of her father-in-law to become an Elector of the Holy Roman Emperor.

The young couple established their household in Hanover, however, the military duties of her husband led to him being absent from Hanover for long periods. The lonely princess found friendship with a young Swedish aristocrat, an officer in the Hanoverian army, Philipp Christoph, Count von Köningsmark (1665-1694). The open nature of the couple relationship led to scandal. Although the count left the electorate to take up a commission with the army of Saxony he returned to settle his affairs and disappeared.
Georg Ludwig and his father arranged for a divorce, but without the charge of adultery. Sophia Dorothea agreed and the divorce was announced in December of 1694. In February the next year she was sent to the recently fortified manor house of Ahlen where she was confined under armed guard, supposedly for her own protection. Apart from a short stay in Celle during the 1700 due to a threated French invasion Sophia-Dorothea remained at Ahlden until her death in 1726.

The initials SD could be for the daughter of Sophia Dorothea and George Ludwig, later King George I of Great Britain as she was also christened Sophia Dorothea. She was born in 1687 and married Friedrich Wilhelm (1688-1740), King in Prussia in 1706, however, after the date of her marriage she would have used a Prussian princess’ crown and following her husband succession a Royal Prussian crown. Moreover it is likely her couvert would have remained in the collection of the Kings of Prussia.

LEWIN DEDEKE

Dedeke (sometimes spelt Dedecke) was born in 1660 and served an apprenticeship under Adam Wagner of Braunsweig before becoming Master in 1691. He married in 1694 the daughter of Jeremias Herfort, who bore him seven children (W. Scheffler, Celle Silber, exh. cat., 1988, p. 65). In 1697 he was appointed Hofgoldschmied, Court Goldsmith, a post he held until his death in 1733. The commissions from the 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 and it appears that collaboration between masters, even on individual pieces, may also have taken place. The mark traditionally ascribed to Dedeke appears on a number of pieces made for the court during this time. Other commissions carried out by Dedeke for the court during this period include a magnificent wine cistern and fountain, currently on loan to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and The Hanover Cistern and Fountain, made for George I as Elector of Hanover, circa 1710, sold Christie's, New York, 23 October 2000, lot 486.