A VICTORIAN FOUR-PIECE SILVER-GILT TEA AND COFFEE-SERVICE WITH A SALVER EN SUITE
Lot 187 Property of Prinz Maximilian zu Fürstenberg from Schloss Werenwag (lots 172-203)

A VICTORIAN FOUR-PIECE SILVER-GILT TEA AND COFFEE-SERVICE WITH A SALVER EN SUITE

MARK OF PAUL STORR, LONDON, 1838

Closed2 October 2013

Price Realised

GBP 15,000

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A VICTORIAN FOUR-PIECE SILVER-GILT TEA AND COFFEE-SERVICE WITH A SALVER EN SUITE
MARK OF PAUL STORR, LONDON, 1838
Each piece melon-fluted and on foliage-capped scroll feet, the sides repoussé and chased with foliage scrolls and flowers, each engraved with a cypher below a German Royal crown, comprising: a teapot, a coffee-pot, each with ivory insulated handles, a cream-jug and a sugar-bowl, the salver circular with foliage and shell border, engraved with a coat-of-arms below a German Royal crown, each piece marked underneath, the teapot and coffee-pot further marked on handle and cover, some pieces further stamped '448' or '449' underneath, the teapot further stamped 'Storr & Mortimer'
the salver 17¾ in. (45.5 cm.) diam.
gross weight 121 oz. 6 dwt. (3,773 gr.)
The arms are those of the Grand Dukes of Baden.

The cypher is almost certainly that of Princess Sophie Wilhelmine of Sweden (1801-1865) wife of Grand Duke Leopold I of Baden. (5)

Specialist note

Princess Sophie was born in Stockholm in 1801, daughter of King Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden and his wife Frederica of Baden. When Sophie was eight years old her father was deposed and she and her family left Sweden. She married, in 1815, her half-grand-uncle Prince Leopold of Baden. The marriage had been specifically arranged by her uncle, Grand Duke Karl I of Baden, to improve the chances that Leopold would one day succeed him as Grand Duke because of Sophie's royal lineage. Between their marriage and Price Leopold's accession as 4th Grand Duke of Baden in 1830 the couple lived a modest life away from court.

Sophie has been described as wise and dutiful but strict, spending hours writing letters to relatives and enjoying an interest in science, art and politics. She and Grand Duke Leopold had eight children, two of whom succeeded Leopold as Grand Duke of Baden and another who went on to become Grand Duchess Olga Feodorovna of Russia following her marriage to Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolaievich of Russia, the youngest son of Tsar Nicholas I.