12 Berlin silver gilt plates made for the Grand Dukes of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
Round scalloped plates with moulded rims decorated with shellwork and acanthus. The borders bearing the crowned coat of arms of the Grand Dukes of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Stamped to the undersides with inventory numbers 13 - 24. Diameter 30 cm, total weight ca. 10,620 g.
Marks of Johann George Hossauer, circa 1837.
These plates originate from a very large service comprising at least 100 place settings, large candelabra and a substantial amount of cutlery. The service was made for Grand Duke Paul Friedrich v. Mecklenburg-Schwerin in around 1837 by Hossauer and was in the possession of the Meckenburg family until the 1970s.
Paul Friedrich (1800 - 1842) married Princess Alexandrine v. Preußen, sister of the later King Wilhelm I, in 1822. The inscription "FIDC." in the marks of the underside is an abbreviation of the latin legal phrase "fidei commissum" - comitted to trust - which stipulates that the pieces were not to be sold or bequeathed outside of the family. Many extant pieces of the service are today housed in the art collection of the Staatliches Museum Schwerin.
Provenance
Swedish private collection.
Literature
Cf. cat. Schätze deutscher Goldschmiedekunst, Berlin 1992, no. 245, and: Melitta Jonas, Gold und Silber für den König, Berlin 1998, p. 67 ff.