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Descrizione dettagliata lotto
The engraved initials and inscription on the underside of the tazza are witness to the German Salic Law that prevented Queen Victoria succeeding to the throne of Hanover after the death of her uncle King WiIliam IV. As Hanover could only be ruled by a king Ernst August Duke of Cumberland (1771-1851), fifth son of King George III was made King of Hanover. As a consequence Ernst August removed to Hanover a considerable quantity of the Royal plate, dating from the time of the Stuarts to the reigns of Queen Anne and the later Hanoverians. This would have included the present and following lot.
A claim was made by Queen Victoria for the return of certain pieces of the Royal plate and jewels, which was successfully ignored by Ernst August for much of her reign. The initials E.A.Fs. stand for 'Ernst August Fidekommiss', 'held in trust' and were probably added to his plate shortly before his death in 1851. The use of these initials to signify entailed property was common practice among the German ruling houses and should not be seen as a unique instance as suggested by Timothy Schroder in The Gilbert Collection of Gold and Silver,Los Angeles, 1987, p. 360. For example the inscription FiDC appears on a set of dinner plates, Berlin, 1821-1841, sold from The Patiño Collection, Christie's, New York, 28 October 1986, lot 244, and on table silver engraved with the arms of Mecklenburg-Schwerin in a private collection.
On the death of Ernst August his son, Georg Friedrich, succeeded to Hanover but was deposed during the Seven Weeks' War in 1866. The Prussian troops sacked Herrenhausen but failed to find the Royal plate, which had been hidden in a vault in the grounds and covered with lime and debris, see E. A. Jones, 'The Duke of Cumberland's Collection of Old English Plate', The National Review, January, 1920, pp. 679-685. Subsequently the family used the title Duke of Brunswick. A significant portion of the Hanoverian plate was dispersed by Crichton Bros. in 1924 and 1925.
A claim was made by Queen Victoria for the return of certain pieces of the Royal plate and jewels, which was successfully ignored by Ernst August for much of her reign. The initials E.A.Fs. stand for 'Ernst August Fidekommiss', 'held in trust' and were probably added to his plate shortly before his death in 1851. The use of these initials to signify entailed property was common practice among the German ruling houses and should not be seen as a unique instance as suggested by Timothy Schroder in The Gilbert Collection of Gold and Silver,Los Angeles, 1987, p. 360. For example the inscription FiDC appears on a set of dinner plates, Berlin, 1821-1841, sold from The Patiño Collection, Christie's, New York, 28 October 1986, lot 244, and on table silver engraved with the arms of Mecklenburg-Schwerin in a private collection.
On the death of Ernst August his son, Georg Friedrich, succeeded to Hanover but was deposed during the Seven Weeks' War in 1866. The Prussian troops sacked Herrenhausen but failed to find the Royal plate, which had been hidden in a vault in the grounds and covered with lime and debris, see E. A. Jones, 'The Duke of Cumberland's Collection of Old English Plate', The National Review, January, 1920, pp. 679-685. Subsequently the family used the title Duke of Brunswick. A significant portion of the Hanoverian plate was dispersed by Crichton Bros. in 1924 and 1925.