A set of six German 15 lot standard silver serving dishes with the cypher of George III King of Great Britain and Ireland, Elector and later King of Hanover

shaped circular with ribbon-tied reeded borders above thin matted band, engraved with the cypher of George III King of Great Britain and Ireland, Elector and later King of Hanover (1738-1820)

Matching lot numbers 1185-1194.

These plates are part of one of the largest services made at the end of the 18th century, the first modern Royal Hanoverian service to be added since the arrival of the Prince of Wales plate in 1738. It was called the A service, supplanting the old A service, known as Osnabrück A, after the brother of George I, Ernest Augustus Bishop of Osnabrück (1674-1728), from whom it was inherited.(1) Much of this old A service, which was also of 15-Lothig standard, was melted to produce metal for the new A service. The records of the Hanoverian plate clearly show items being counted out from different areas of the whole silver deposit and handed over to court goldsmith Frantz Peter Bunsen. For example, 526 mark 10 7/8 loth (about 120 Kilos) of the Englische Service (made for George II as Prince of Wales around 1717 by Benjamin Pyne -> see lots 1149-1157) which in 1747 had a total weight of 2113 mark 7 ½ lot, were given up. In what appears to be a retrospective account in 1789 of the giving and returning of this English silver, it is recorded that Bunsen, while returning the full value of metal which he had received overall, was unable to confirm that every object he returned was up to the full standard. (15 lt. 4 ½ gr. equivalent to Britannia standard) (2).
While Ignaz Joseph and Ignaz Sebastian Würth in Vienna and Luigi Valadier in Rome provided competing designs in 1772 and 1773, the commission for the non-German part of the service was given to Robert-Joseph Auguste in Paris (12 double salt cellars were made by Antoine Bouillier in 1781-82). His work was known to George III, amongst other things having made a pair of wine coolers, four candelabra and a pair of candlesticks for the King’s tutor and friend Simon Ist Earl Harcourt (1714-77) in 1766/67 (see Sotheby’s, London, 10 June 1993 and 20 November 2003 lots 103 and 196).

The main part of the new service A took about 15 years to complete. The financial arrangements for its purchase accounted for this lengthy process. Part of the cost of financing the service, much higher in Paris than in Hanover, was paid for from interest on investing part of the silver treasure, enough to buy the service piecemeal but not enough to pay for it in one go. The financial arrangement served another purpose and coincided with an urgent need of the King’s Hanoverian subjects for food and seed corn following crop failure in the years following the end of the Seven-years war. The plan organised by the Lord Chamberlain was to use the enormous wealth of dead capital in the silver treasure, by turning part of it (about ¼ of the total fund which has been estimated at 5350 kilos) into coin and lending it at an annual rate of 3%. The interest received would pay for the fashioning of items made in Paris and Hanover and the raw material would come from existing funds. The first melting appears to have been in 1768 but it was not till the end of 1772 that the first of 15 annual interest payment was received. A file in the Hanoverian state archive concerning the transfer of the silver from Hanover to London and back again (1803-16), contains a copy of an order from George III dated 22 January 1773, which reads in translation:

We have decided to make a change regarding our Hanover court silver and to give old and unusable silver of about 80,000 Reichstaler to Our "Rent-Cammer" (administration of the finances) to be partly minted/coined partly melted into ingots and sold and to make the Rent-Cammer pay interest of 3 % for the money in order to acquire a complete and "neu faconiertes" (contemporary) dinner service made out of further old silver while the costs for making should be payed from the interest …

……The Lord Chamberlain has given away silver of 85.529 Taler 27 Mariengroschen which was minted and sold and which We ordered Our Royal Electoral Rent-Cammer use to supply Our subjects after two years of crop failure with bread and seed corn. (3)

The silver came from Paris in 5 deliveries from 1777-1786 with pieces added by Bunsen. Paris made objects from the service like those donated to the Louvre, Paris, in 1975, cruets (1776-77), verrières (1776-78), pots à oille and stands (1778-79 and 1780-82), candelabra (1778-82) and mustard pots (1780-82) came in the early years and dishes, dish cover and plates such as these now offered which were made in 1786, in the latter years.(4).

At the end of  May 1803, a French army of 12,000 men commanded by General Mortier undertook the invasion and capture of Hanover with the intention of exchanging the Electorate for the island of Malta captured by the British in 1800. The Hanover Council of Regency scrambled to disperse the emblematic possessions of the Elector (George III) namely the Electoral Stud, the silver plate and silver furniture .(5) At first these possessions were taken to Mecklenburg – Strelitz , Queen Charlotte’s home turf. From here the stud, 53 horses and 30 grooms , were moved to the coast and shipped to Perry’s Dock London arriving on  27^th September.(6) The silver and linen in 70 packages were moved to Mecklenburg –Schwerin where some members of the Regency Council had taken up residence. French threats to invade the Duchy and seize the possessions of George III were diplomatically opposed by  both Prussia and Russia and were abandoned.(7) A record in the Hanover state archive (7a) records the specification of the silver which escaped in 1803. This included not just the A service but the services as well. B, C (see lots 1115 to 1132), D, E (1133 to 1145) and F (formerly the Prince of Wales service see lots 1148, 1149 to1157) were all pre-1760 services (when an inventory was drawn up after the death of George II.), G was an old service but purchased in 1779 from the widow of the Geheime Rat Karl Friedrich von Hardenberg with modern additions by Bunsen, H was a dessert service and J a service in the making. In addition to the Taffel-Geräth and Buffet-Geräth which together made up a service, the Kammer-Geräth was also included (furniture, chandeliers, candlesticks, coffee and tea services), Unterschiedenes Geräth (Church silver and goblets of George William Duke of Brunswick and Luneburg (1624-1705) (see lot 1105), drums (see lot ... ) and trumpets of the Life Guards and some silver from Osnabrück including candlesticks,  armorial shields, ewer and basin, coffee spoons). The church silver which was in use the Schlosskirche and the Neustädter Kirche was left in Hannover (see lots 1106, 1107, 1249).

The packages were then moved to St Petersburg and placed under the control of Count Munster the Electoral Envoy to Russia, who oversaw their loading on to the British frigate Clyde at the Kronstadt Roads on 24^th October 1803. The ship’s log records on 1^st November (still at Kronstadt Roads) `fresh breeze unmoored ship at 3pm. Saluted the Russian Commander-in Chief leaving the ship with 15 guns. Weighed and  set topsails and canvasses. Half past stuck on the London Chest Shoal? and held fast; furled sails got out the stern and `Kedge anchors to heave her off; made the signal of distress and fired guns repeatedly, sent an officer to Kronstadt to require asistance brought home the anchor without effect tho assisted by a bark belonging to Hull….employed lightening the ship’ The Clyde got off the bank the next day but then went aground again but finally on 5^th November got away and after picking up the Baltic Convoy in Elsinore Roads set sail for the Nore.(7) The convoy was scattered by severe gales and according to The Times  there were so many Dutch privateers at sea that the Admiralty ordered all available ships of the line into the North Sea. (8) Arriving safely at the Nore on 30^th November, the precious cargo was unloaded onto the Woolwich tender on which the Lieutenant- Governor of the Tower had placed a military guard. Orders were given for the packages to be ‘sent on a barge for Stains where` His Majesty would send for it to Windsor’.(9)

The silver was on display in 1805 at the `Housewarming’ at Windsor on 25 February, which coincided with the completion of James Wyatt’s alterations to the castle. Miss Lucy Kennedy, Lady in Waiting to Queen Charlotte wrote `great preparations have been making for a month past, new furniture, pictures removed and a great collection of very fine new ones…There is also the magnificent plate which was brought from Hanover, consisting of tables, stoves, fire furniture, nine fine lustres, 30 tureens, 50 dozen plates, silver drums (see lot 1171) and many other articles….’(10) Clearly she was impressed as she was meant to be. Royal events such as this were not just entertainments but intended to have an element of propaganda . The evening was a Hanoverian occasion and a `riposte to the elaborate Napoleonic rituals being carried out on the other side of the channel` at a time when the King’s German Kingdom had been invaded.(11) As the Gentleman’s Magazine reported `It may truly be said it was his Majesty’s fete, everything was done by the direction and under the superintendence of his Majesty….Mr Gilbert the silversmith, has been preparing a new service of plate valued we understand at between £20000 and £30000 pounds; the whole service of plate displayed that night, was supposed to be the most magnificent in Europe (our italics).(12) This so-called new service is presumably Gilbert’s refurbishment of the Hanover silver after its troubled journey.

After the return of all the silver to Hanover in around 1814, additions were made to the A service in preparation for George IV’s visit in 1821 including raising certain pieces such as the wine coolers up on added bases and making new plates and dishes by Franz Anton Hans Nübell and Johann Christian Peter Neuthard (see lots 1185 to 1194). Interestingly, it was not until 1841 that Ernest Augustus (1771-1851) had his fathers cypher put on all the elements of the service.(13)

Sotheby’s gratefully thank Dr Gordon Glanville for his help with this note and Dr. Lorenz Seelig, Munich, for providing us with the opportunity to use his unpublished work on the Auguste-service.

References:
1. Niedersächsisches Landesarchiv-Haupststaatsarchiv Hannover NLA-HStAH, Dep. 103, IV, Nr. 175; Dep. 103, XXI, Nr. 682, pag. 163)
2. NLA-HStAH, Dep. 103, IV, Nr. 175.
3. NLA-HStAH, Dep. 103, IV, Nr. 196.
4. NLA-HStAH, Dep. 103, IV, Nr. 173 IV.
5 For background , see Philip Konigs The Hanoverian Kings and their  Homeland A study of the personal union 1714-1847   Book Guild Ltd 1993
6 A Aspinall The Later Correspondance of George III  vol 4, letter No.2744
7 National Archive, F O  65/53,folio 83/4
7a NLA-HStAH, Hann.92 Nr.105.
8 National Archive, ADM 51/1478,Captain’s Log Clyde section 5
9 National Archive ADM 12/105 folio 799
10 Kennedy Diary, The MS Diary of Miss Lucy Kennedy, Royal Library Windsor, cited in Olwen Hedley Queen  Charlotte,1975 p221/2
11 See Linda Colley Britons  Forging the Nation London 1992
12 Gentlemens Magazine part 1, 1805,p262/4
13 NLA-HStAH, Dep. 103, IV, Nr. 173 I, 173 IV.

Detail
-For a portrait of George III King of Great Britain and Ireland, Elector and later King of Hanover (1738–1820), after Sir Thomas Lawrence, please see lot number 582.