Catherine the Great: A set of fifteen George III silver second-course dishes from the Tula service, George Heming and William Chawner, London, 1776

shaped circular with gadroon borders, engraved with the Imperial double eagle

Catherine the Great, purchased in 1777 and allocated to the Governor of Tula
Paul I, Mikhailovsky Palace, St. Petersburg
By descent at the Winter Palace
Sold under Soviet rule, probably early 1920s

Baron A. Foelkersam, Inventories of the Silver of the Court of His Imperial Highness, St. Petersburg, 1907, p. 252, under no. 44

Marina Lopato, `English silver in St. Petersburg,' in British Art Treasures from Russian Imperial Collections in the Hermitage, Allen and Dukelskaya, eds., Yale 1996, pp. 131-32

numerous small dings, scratches, and some old repairs, surfaces a little bright.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Beginning in the mid 1770s, Catherine ordered silver services from makers in London, Paris and Augsburg for the new regional capitols. The first two services were ordered in London in 1774 and supplied by various makers.  The list for a "silver table service made in England" leads with 8 tureens and stands and includes 16 trays and 102 varied dishes.  The first two services cost at least 125,000 roubles each and were sent to Tver and Volynsk.

In 1777 an order was placed for another two English services, which may have cost almost twice as much. They arrived in St. Petersburg in May, 1777, when customs payments of 6240 roubles were made. In September of that year, the viceregal establishment for Yaroslavl was set up and received one of the services.  These platters all come from the second service of 1777, which was sent to Tula when that establishment was set up in October of that year.

Under Paul, the Government Services were brought back to St. Petersburg 1797 to furnish the Mikhailovsky Castle. When listed by Foelkersham in 1907, after 19th century depredations, the Tula Service included 36 oval platters, 34 circular platters (of which this lot represents nearly half), and 4 salvers with openwork edges, all by Heming & Chawner, 1776, a larger salver with openwork edge, by John Carter, 1776, and 38 candlesticks by Carter and Thomas Heming, plus later Russian additions to the service.

After sales in the early Soviet era, today the Hermitage retains only five platters and a pair of Heming candlesticks.  Two oval meat platters #3 and #7 and a pair of oval meat platters #6 were sold Sotheby's, New York, 13 October 2007, lots 109 & 110.  A single meat platter #7 was sold Sotheby's, Paris, 25 November 2010, lot 189,  Eight candlesticks from the service were sold Sotheby's, London, 11 November, 1993, lot 451.  A second course dish of 1777, possibly from the Yaroslavl service, was sold Sotheby's, New York, 18 February 1999, lot 155.