.jpg?w=1)
拍品专文
This model is after examples from the 'Berkeley Castle Service' by the celebrated French silversmith Jacques Roettiers. Made in 1735-8, probably under the instructions of James, 3rd Earl of Berkeley who married Louise, daughter of the 1st Duke of Richmond in 1710, the service is believed to have been ordered as a gift for James' first son Augustus who was born in 1716. See V. Brett The Sotheby's Directory of Silver 1600-1900, London, 1986, p. 358, fig. 1707.
The engraved Royal crest lacks a legible label for difference, therefore it is impossible to identify to which of the sons of King George III the caster belonged. However, it must be for either Prince Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland (1771-1851), Prince Augustus, Duke of Sussex (1773-1843) or Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge (1774-1850), the fifth, sixth and seventh sons of King George III. The most likely candidate is the Duke of Cumberland as both the Duke of Sussex's and the Duke of Cambridge's silver collections were sold at Christie's after their deaths. The Duke of Sussex's collection was sold in June 1843 and the Duke of Cambridge's collection in June 1904. Neither of these sales included the caster. It is probably that the caster was part of the collection of plate which the Duke of Cumberland took to Hanover to rule as King in 1837 where he ruled as King of Hanover until his death in 1851. A large part of the Hanoverian royal silver was later sold in 1923 and was offered on the London market by the silver dealers Crichton Brothers. It is possible that the caster was acquired by the Tennant family at this time, whose crest is later engraved on the caster.
The engraved Royal crest lacks a legible label for difference, therefore it is impossible to identify to which of the sons of King George III the caster belonged. However, it must be for either Prince Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland (1771-1851), Prince Augustus, Duke of Sussex (1773-1843) or Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge (1774-1850), the fifth, sixth and seventh sons of King George III. The most likely candidate is the Duke of Cumberland as both the Duke of Sussex's and the Duke of Cambridge's silver collections were sold at Christie's after their deaths. The Duke of Sussex's collection was sold in June 1843 and the Duke of Cambridge's collection in June 1904. Neither of these sales included the caster. It is probably that the caster was part of the collection of plate which the Duke of Cumberland took to Hanover to rule as King in 1837 where he ruled as King of Hanover until his death in 1851. A large part of the Hanoverian royal silver was later sold in 1923 and was offered on the London market by the silver dealers Crichton Brothers. It is possible that the caster was acquired by the Tennant family at this time, whose crest is later engraved on the caster.