A silver rechaud and cloche made for Prince Frederick William and Princess Victoria of Prussia
Round, pierced rechaud with separately worked burner on four supports. Above it, a flat plate with a smooth centre; the narrow rim with a godroned border. The domed cloche with a moulded rim decorated with twisted ribbons and acanthus, the finial formed as the Prussian royal crown on a cushion. The display side engraved with the couple's arms of alliance flanked by wild men under the Prussian royal crown: in front the Middle Coat of Arms of the Kingdom of Prussia in the form of 1864 - 1873. Behind the coat of arms of the British Royal House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. H 30; D 28.4 cm, total weight 3.481 g. The cloche and the lamp unmarked.
Marks of Sy & Wagner, 1864 - 1873.
The engraved arms of alliance is that of the Prussian Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm, later Emperor Friedrich III, and Princess Victoria, as Queen Victoria's eldest daughter a British Princess Royal from the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.
The couple married on 25th January 1858 in the chapel of St. James's Palace in London; this rechaud was thus apparently commissioned from Sy & Wagner in Berlin as a complement to the wedding silver.
Provenance
Dutch private collection.
Literature
The design of the cloche corresponds to the "English-style" dinner service that was ordered from the court jeweller Hossauer for the wedding of the prince's parents in 1829 and was reordered by several regents from different suppliers. Cf. Melitta Jonas, Gold und Silber für den König, Berlin 1998, p. 64, No. 2. On the type, cf. also cat. Kaiserliches Gold und Silber, Schätze der Hohenzollern aus dem Schloss Huis Doorn, Berlin 1985, p. 109.