A Prussian silver presentation cup and cover, Johann George Hossauer, Berlin, 1821-1841, probably after a design by Karl Friedrich Schinkel (1781-1841)

the circular base with formal tongue and dart border rising to a richly chased bowl decorated with oak and laurel sprays on a matted ground enclosing on one side a coat-of-arms and crest and on the other with a military trophy with pendent Blue Max medallion, the detachable cover with the Prussian eagle finial, gilt interior, the foot, lip and cover stamped: ’15 LÖTH: HOSSAUER BERLIN’

Condition of marks good; condition of object very good and crisp. For all sales which take place on or after 1 February 2015, please note that the rate of buyer's premium for each lot (charged as a percentage of the hammer price achieved for that lot) has been revised and shall be calculated at the thresholds set out below: Buyer's premium is 25% of the hammer price up to and including £100,000; Buyer's premium is 20% of the hammer price on any amount in excess of £100, 000 up to and including £1,800,000; Buyer's premium is 12% of the hammer price on any amount in excess of £1,800,000. As stated above, the revised thresholds are effective as of 1 February 2015.
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The arms are those of Georg Wilhelm von Valentini (1775-1834).

Georg Wilhelm von Valentini was a Prussian army officer, author, tactician and military reformer, who replaced the more famous Carl Philip von Clausewitz, who he considered an ‘overrated impractical theorist,’ as military instructor to the Crown Prince of Prussia.  At the age of 24 Valentini published Abhandlung über den Kleinen Krieg, an influential work on the effect of partisan warfare based on his experiences against France in 1793 and 1794. This was described as ‘the most distinguished and mature work on the subject that the 18^th century has produced.’  Some of the events of that period are commemorated on the cup. Valentini fought at Waterloo where he was chief of staff to IV Armee  Korps which spearheaded the attack on Napoleon’s flank and bore the heaviest part of the fighting. He returned from that battle a highly decorated major-general.

On 8 December 1813 Valentini was awarded the Pour le Merite (The Blue Max), Prussia’s highest order of merit, a year after having been appointed military instructor to the Crown Prince. In 1828 he was appointed Inspector General of military education of the Prussian army. For further information, see Kurt von Priesdorff, editor, Soldatisches Führertum, Hamburg, 1938, vol. IV, no. 1268.

The military trophy on this cup is centred by ten small discs enclosing a larger disc, all inscribed with the names of battles and other engagements. The largest commemorates ‘SCHÄNZEL vom 3ten bis 13 ten Julius 1794’; the remaining, clockwise, as follows: ‘AMSTELVEEN,’ ‘MAYNZ,’ ‘PIRMASENS,’ ‘WEISSENBURGER LINIEN,’ ‘LEMBACH und die SCHEER HOLE,’ ‘KAISERSLAUTERN,’ ‘SAALFELD,’ 'JENA,’ ‘GRAUDENZ’ and ‘COKAU. DAHLENKIRCHEN. RUHENTHAL’.

The most prominent of these inscriptions commemorates an engagement which took place on 13 July 1794 between Prussian and French forces at Steigerkopf, known locally as Schänzel, near Edenkoben, on mount Steigerkopt in the eastern part of the Palatinate Forest. The site is marked by a tower, erected in 1874, to which is affixed an inscribed plaque: ‘Dem Andenken der tapferen preußischen Krieger, welche im Kampfe gegen das französische Invasionsheer am 13. Juli 1794 hier den Heldentod für das deutsche Vaterland starbe.’ (In memory of the brave Prussian warriors who died heros’ deaths here for the German Fatherland fighting the French invasion army on 13 July 1794.)

This cup is probably one of the series of such presentation pieces which were designed from the 1820s onwards by Karl Friedrich Schinkel . According to Burkhardt Göres of the Staatliche Museum, Berlin (Michael Snodin, editor, Karl Friedrich Schinkel: A Universal Man, exhibition catalogue, Yale University Press, 1991, in association with The Victoria and Albert Museum, p. 198, no. 151), Schinkel’s most productive collaboration was with Johann George Hossauer, Berlin’s leading goldsmith. The latter left an album, destroyed in 1945, of more than 60 designs for silver, most of which were by Schinkel. Herr Göres further observes that, ‘Schinkel always recommended that his general designs be treated as a basis for variations.’ For further information and illustrations of Schinkel’s designs and work in silver, including many examples from J.G. Hossauer, see Melitta Jonas, Gold und Silber für den König, Johann George Hossauer (1794-1874) Goldschmied Sr. Majestät des Königs, exhibition catalogue, Berlin, 1998.