An Unusual and Rare Russian Silver Tankard, Carl Johann Tegelsten, St. Petersburg, 1852

of baluster shape, the fluted body and hinged cover decorated with strapwork around the top, base, and shaped handle, the lower half applied with two scenes of a winter troika and racing sledges

Edward Valentine Wilbern (1869-1950)

Carl Johann Tegelsten (1798-1852) supplied silver for the famous firm of Nichols and Plinke, who were known as the Magazin Anglais (The English Shop). An important court supplier, he is best known for producing additions to earlier services and table wares in the neo-Rococo taste in preparation for the marriages of many members of the Imperial Family. This tankard is particularly interesting because it indicates that even at the end of his career, Tegelsten was keeping up to date with the latest stylistic innovations. The parcel gilt strapwork and Russian style design of this piece recalls the sort of silver designs exhibited by the firm of Ignatii Sazikov at the Great Exposition of 1851 as well as Russian national fairs to great acclaim. See, for example, the coffee pot from Sazikov's service for the Golitsyn family and Tegelsten's creamer in the collection of the State Hermitage Museum in Z.A. Bernyakovich, Russkoe khudozhestvennoe serebro XVII-nachala XX veka, Leningrad, 1977, nos. 162 and 163.

Small firing hole in handle
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