THE COVERS WITH THE MARK OF ROBERT-JOSEPH AUGUSTE, PARIS, 1777, THE DISHES, ST. PETERSBURG, 1799, MAKER'S MARK POSSIBLY THAT OF JOHANN JACOB ECKERT

The work of Robert-Joseph Auguste was a great favorite of the Royal courts of Europe and Russia in the last quarter of the 18th century. Indeed an extensive dinner-service, with dish covers similar to the present examples was ordered from Auguste by George III, King of England and Elector of Hanover (r.1760-1820) for use by the Hanoverian Court at the Palace of Herrenhausen. As with the present covers that service was made by Robert-Joseph Auguste between 1776 and 1785. It was added to by Hanoverian makers including Bunsen and Neubel. The service is now dispersed with examples in the collection of the Louvre, Paris, the Getty, Malibu and the Rothschild collection at Waddesdon Manor.

Empress Catherine the Great of Russian ordered two services also with similar dish-covers from Auguste, one for her personal use, now in the Kremlin, Moscow, and another as the gubernatorial service for Ekaterinoslav, now dispersed. Another service, now in the Royal Palace, Stockholm, was commissioned by Count Gustaf Philip Creutz (1731-1785), a Swedish diplomat and stateman who was Swedish Ambassador to Paris in the 1770s.
The appearance of these covers with slightly later dishes, made in St Petersburg, indicates that these were in all probability originally part of a service made for the Russian market although they lack the Russian inventory numbers which would conclusively confirm this.