Lot Essay
The inscription reads: "Ihren Koniglichen Hoheiten dem Prinzen Wilhelm von Preussen und der Prinzessin Auguste Victoria, zu Hochst Ihrer Vermahlung in hesster Ehrfurcht gewidmet von der Provinz Westpreussen 27 Februar 1881" (To their Royal Highnesses the Prince William of Prussia and the Princess Auguste Victoria, presented on the occasion of your wedding with devotion from the West Province of Prussia 27 February 1881)
The arms are those of Wilhelm II, Viktor Albert, German Emperor and King of Prussia (1859-1941, ruled 1888-1918) and his wife Auguste Victoria (1858-1921), eldest daugther of Friedrich, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg, who married in Berlin on 27 February 1881.
This extravagant wedding-gift reflects the ultimate neo-Baroque taste at the Prussian court of Berlin in the last quarter of the 19th century. The designer Hermann Ende (1829-1907), was the contemporary of Adolph Menzel, President of the Berlin Academy of Arts, who perhaps best expressed in painting this taste. Ende took as his model the famous golden coffee-service, made for Augustus the Strong by Georg-Friedrich Dinglinger and Paul Hermann between 1697-1701, on view in the Green Vaults, Dresden since the early 18th century. He was also heavily influenced by the magnificient Baroque silver and silver-gilt made by the Biller family of Augsburg for the Prussian court in the early 18th century.
A very considerable amount of silver was made to celebrate the 1881 Royal marriage and much of it remains in Huis Doorn in the Netherlands where the Princess died in 1921, following the abdication of her husband three years earlier. (See H. Schadt and I. Schneider, Kaiserliches Gold und Silber, Schatze der Hohenzollern aus dem Schloss Huis Doorn, Berlin, 1985, pp. 132-133). A number of pieces also connected with this marriage were sold at Christie's Geneva, 17 November, 1992, lots 236, 239 etc.
The arms are those of Wilhelm II, Viktor Albert, German Emperor and King of Prussia (1859-1941, ruled 1888-1918) and his wife Auguste Victoria (1858-1921), eldest daugther of Friedrich, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg, who married in Berlin on 27 February 1881.
This extravagant wedding-gift reflects the ultimate neo-Baroque taste at the Prussian court of Berlin in the last quarter of the 19th century. The designer Hermann Ende (1829-1907), was the contemporary of Adolph Menzel, President of the Berlin Academy of Arts, who perhaps best expressed in painting this taste. Ende took as his model the famous golden coffee-service, made for Augustus the Strong by Georg-Friedrich Dinglinger and Paul Hermann between 1697-1701, on view in the Green Vaults, Dresden since the early 18th century. He was also heavily influenced by the magnificient Baroque silver and silver-gilt made by the Biller family of Augsburg for the Prussian court in the early 18th century.
A very considerable amount of silver was made to celebrate the 1881 Royal marriage and much of it remains in Huis Doorn in the Netherlands where the Princess died in 1921, following the abdication of her husband three years earlier. (See H. Schadt and I. Schneider, Kaiserliches Gold und Silber, Schatze der Hohenzollern aus dem Schloss Huis Doorn, Berlin, 1985, pp. 132-133). A number of pieces also connected with this marriage were sold at Christie's Geneva, 17 November, 1992, lots 236, 239 etc.