A pair of important silver tureens made for Grand Duke Georg von Mecklenburg-Strelitz
Silver; gold-plated inserts. Silver tureens with removable gilt insets. On slightly differing round plinths with palmette décor, the finely chased cast silver bases formed as swans and rams supporting canopies upon which the round gadrooned tureens rest. Domed lids with finials formed as cherubs. One tureen with coiled snake handles, the other with Neoclassical handles. The lids engraved with the coat of arms of the grand dukes of Mecklenburg. The insets with engraved inventory numbers III and 4, the rims with three and four dots. Marks: Tureens and inserts with BZ Augsburg for 1821/22, MZ Johann Georg Christoph Neuss (1803 - 57), sales mark Johann Alois Seethaler (1796 - 1835, Seling No. 3150, 2665, 2637), H 32 cm, weight 4,225 and 5,035 g.
maker's marks of Johann Georg Christoph Neuss, merchant's mark of Johann Alois Seethaler, 1821/22.
Georg von Mecklenburg-Strelitz was the younger brother of Queen Luise of Prussia. He was grand duke of Mecklenburg from 1816 – 1860. On occasion of his marriage to Marie von Hesse-Kassel, he commissioned an extensive silver service in the French Empire style which was carried out by various craftsmen between the years of 1819 – 1823. Scheffler lists several tureens and dishes on stands belonging to this service being made by the goldsmith Gottfried Christian David Petschler in Neustrelitz. Some rested on models of swans, others on rams. Alongside the Mecklenburg order, Neuss also worked on several other commissions for courtly silver placed by Johann Alois Seethaler, including additions to the “Königsservice”, which was originally ordered from Paris for Max Joseph I of Bavaria.
Provenance
Private collection, Copenhagen.
Literature
For the Neustrelitz orders, see: Scheffler Mitteldeutschland, p. 233 and illus. 53, 57. For the role of Augsburg silver merchants, cf.: Wallenta, Kleine Geschichte der Goldschmiedestadt Augsburg, Mering 2017, p. 50f, 74. For the Wittelsbach order, cf.: Seling no. 2665g, illus. 1096).