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Lot Essay
THE RIGA SERVICE
These meat-dishes form part of the Gubernatorial Service made for the City of Riga during the governorship of Count George von Browne (1698-1792). The service was commissioned by Empress Catherine the Great and delivered on 4 April 1784. The prick-engraved Cyrillic initials ‘RIZH’ (the Russian adjectival form of the name of the city of Riga) indicate the service was meant to be used in that city. Little information survives about the actual commissioning of the Riga Service, however we do know its extent. It was designed for use at a banquet of up to forty people and consisted of: four oval tureens, eight candelabra, twenty-four candlesticks, eight wine-coolers (see Christie’s, Paris, 8 November 2013, lot 137), sauce-boats, plates, dishes (including the pair offered here), dish covers and numerous smaller pieces. The service had a total weight of more than 17,000 ounces.
Two surviving inventories, Verzeichnis von dem Silbernen Tisch Service, [Inventory of the Silver Table Service] of April 1784 (including the weights), and Die benutzungdes Rigaer Gouvernementsservices: Besuch des Herzogs von Kurland [The Use of the Riga Gubernatorial Service: Visit of the Duke of Kurland] of January 1795, are quoted by Dr. B. R. Kommer in Zirbelnuss und Zarenadle, Augsburger Silber für Katharina II von Russland (Augsburg, 1997, pp. 40-44 and pp. 35-37 respectively). As a result of these two inventories, the Riga service is the best documented of all the Gubernatorial services.
As mentioned in the note on the preceding lots, the extensive Gubernatorial commissions were produced as collaborations between the best silversmiths in Augsburg, probably working under the direction of a single retailer. In addition to the workshop of Emanuel Gottfried Meisgeyer, the maker of these meat-dishes, pieces from the Riga Service are known to have been made by Johann-Christian Neuss (see Christie’s, Geneva, 17 November 1998, lot 268 for a set of four mustard-pots), Philipp Friedrich Bruglocher, Johann Georg I Stenglin, Johann Jakob and Hermann Grabe, Sebald-Heinrich Blau and Johann Philipp Heckenhauer.
The Riga Service, in common with the other Gubernatorial Services, conveyed the power and authority of the Empress through its scale and splendour. The Riga Service was initially not used a great deal. On its arrival in Riga in 1784, Governor Count George von Browne ordered an inventory to be undertaken of the entire service. This inventory was conducted by Nikifor Kargorodow, described by Kommer as the ‘Collegian Assessor’; the inventory records the scale of the service (see Kommer, op. cit., pp. 40-44) as a precursor to the packing and storage of the service. When preparing for a large banquet, a staff member would apply for each piece required, by listing it on a formal application. From this list a receipt was prepared to check the pieces in and out of storage. The first surviving application is from January 1795 for pieces to be used at a reception in honour of Peter von Biron, Duke of Kurland (1724-1800). Although comprehensive, the 1784 inventory is not detailed enough to positively identify the present dishes.
The following year, after the death of Catherine the Great on 17 November 1796, her son, now Paul I, Emperor of Russia took a very different view of the Gubernatorial Services. He decided that they should be sent to the Imperial Court in St. Petersburg. To this end instruction was given on 14 December 1796 to Baron Meyerdorff that the entire service was being recalled by the Emperor. On 2 January 1797, under supervision of Michael Morosow, Second Lieutenant of the 3rd Battalion of Riga, the service was packed into its cases, locked and sealed for its journey to St. Petersburg.
Unlike much of the other silver from the Russian Imperial Collection, the Riga Service is not included in Baron Foelkersam’s inventory published in 1907. The whereabouts, and indeed the very existence, of the Riga Service was unknown until pieces reappeared in an auction held by the firm Frederik Müller et Cie. in Amsterdam in June 1925. The sale included a tureen, candelabra and a cruet, with the provenance for each listed as ‘Collection Demidoff’. This would suggest that at least some of the service was either given to or purchased on the open market by the Russian industrialist and collector Anatole Demidoff, Prince of San Donato (1812-1870) at some point in the 19th century.
These meat-dishes form part of the Gubernatorial Service made for the City of Riga during the governorship of Count George von Browne (1698-1792). The service was commissioned by Empress Catherine the Great and delivered on 4 April 1784. The prick-engraved Cyrillic initials ‘RIZH’ (the Russian adjectival form of the name of the city of Riga) indicate the service was meant to be used in that city. Little information survives about the actual commissioning of the Riga Service, however we do know its extent. It was designed for use at a banquet of up to forty people and consisted of: four oval tureens, eight candelabra, twenty-four candlesticks, eight wine-coolers (see Christie’s, Paris, 8 November 2013, lot 137), sauce-boats, plates, dishes (including the pair offered here), dish covers and numerous smaller pieces. The service had a total weight of more than 17,000 ounces.
Two surviving inventories, Verzeichnis von dem Silbernen Tisch Service, [Inventory of the Silver Table Service] of April 1784 (including the weights), and Die benutzungdes Rigaer Gouvernementsservices: Besuch des Herzogs von Kurland [The Use of the Riga Gubernatorial Service: Visit of the Duke of Kurland] of January 1795, are quoted by Dr. B. R. Kommer in Zirbelnuss und Zarenadle, Augsburger Silber für Katharina II von Russland (Augsburg, 1997, pp. 40-44 and pp. 35-37 respectively). As a result of these two inventories, the Riga service is the best documented of all the Gubernatorial services.
As mentioned in the note on the preceding lots, the extensive Gubernatorial commissions were produced as collaborations between the best silversmiths in Augsburg, probably working under the direction of a single retailer. In addition to the workshop of Emanuel Gottfried Meisgeyer, the maker of these meat-dishes, pieces from the Riga Service are known to have been made by Johann-Christian Neuss (see Christie’s, Geneva, 17 November 1998, lot 268 for a set of four mustard-pots), Philipp Friedrich Bruglocher, Johann Georg I Stenglin, Johann Jakob and Hermann Grabe, Sebald-Heinrich Blau and Johann Philipp Heckenhauer.
The Riga Service, in common with the other Gubernatorial Services, conveyed the power and authority of the Empress through its scale and splendour. The Riga Service was initially not used a great deal. On its arrival in Riga in 1784, Governor Count George von Browne ordered an inventory to be undertaken of the entire service. This inventory was conducted by Nikifor Kargorodow, described by Kommer as the ‘Collegian Assessor’; the inventory records the scale of the service (see Kommer, op. cit., pp. 40-44) as a precursor to the packing and storage of the service. When preparing for a large banquet, a staff member would apply for each piece required, by listing it on a formal application. From this list a receipt was prepared to check the pieces in and out of storage. The first surviving application is from January 1795 for pieces to be used at a reception in honour of Peter von Biron, Duke of Kurland (1724-1800). Although comprehensive, the 1784 inventory is not detailed enough to positively identify the present dishes.
The following year, after the death of Catherine the Great on 17 November 1796, her son, now Paul I, Emperor of Russia took a very different view of the Gubernatorial Services. He decided that they should be sent to the Imperial Court in St. Petersburg. To this end instruction was given on 14 December 1796 to Baron Meyerdorff that the entire service was being recalled by the Emperor. On 2 January 1797, under supervision of Michael Morosow, Second Lieutenant of the 3rd Battalion of Riga, the service was packed into its cases, locked and sealed for its journey to St. Petersburg.
Unlike much of the other silver from the Russian Imperial Collection, the Riga Service is not included in Baron Foelkersam’s inventory published in 1907. The whereabouts, and indeed the very existence, of the Riga Service was unknown until pieces reappeared in an auction held by the firm Frederik Müller et Cie. in Amsterdam in June 1925. The sale included a tureen, candelabra and a cruet, with the provenance for each listed as ‘Collection Demidoff’. This would suggest that at least some of the service was either given to or purchased on the open market by the Russian industrialist and collector Anatole Demidoff, Prince of San Donato (1812-1870) at some point in the 19th century.