CHARLES KANDLER
The form of this silver tureen illustrates the thriving international exchange of designs in the eighteenth century via printed matter, the crossover between porcelain and silver forms, international patronage and the communities of immigrant artisans working in England at the time.
In particular, this tureen shows Charles Kandler's links with the Meissen porcelain factory. Charles Kandler, a German silversmith from Saxony, served his apprenticeship under the Dresden court goldsmith, Johann Jacob Irminger, who was also the artistic director of Meissen under the original factory director Bottger. Scholarship by Meissen scholar Rainer Ruckert has suggested that Charles Kandler was the older brother of the celebrated Meissen porcelain modeller Johann Joachim Kandler.
These discoveries are discussed in Philippa Glanville's article, 'Silver Torah Scrolls by Kandler: Rococo Elegance in Miniature', National Art Collections Fund Annual Review, 1993, p. 28. Peter Cameron, 'Henry Jernegan, the Kandlers and the client who changed his mind', The Silver Society Journal, Autumn 1996, pp.487-501, further discusses the Kandler relationship and the Jernegan-Kandler cistern.
Charles Kandler, attracted by the Hanoverian court of King George II, moved from Dresden to London, entering his first mark at Goldsmiths' Hall on 29 August 1727. He soon found himself in favour with Thomas, 8th Duke of Norfolk, amongst others of note. Kandler's business was 'at the Sign of the Mitre', first on St Martin's Lane and subsequently German Street. In 1735 new marks were entered for Charles Frederick Kandler at German Street; this was originally thought to have been Charles's nephew or cousin, and subsequently generally accepted to be the same man.
In 1741, however, a Frederick Kandler is listed as silversmith at this address, and he is now thought to be the same person as Charles Frederick Kandler, who had entered the 1735 mark. Current scholarship explains that Charles Frederick took over the business from Charles in 1735, entering his own mark and taking over the first of Charles' apprentices. He married Mary, niece of a Catholic priest, and died in 1778. His son, Charles II, born 1737, carried on the business of his father, married Martha Pratt in 1779, and died in 1807. The relationships between the Kandlers is discussed in detail in P. Cameron, op. cit., Journal of the Silver Society, no. 8, pp. 495-499.
An almost identical tureen also by Kandler from the previous year is in the collection of the Cincinnati Art Museum; the Bequest of Paul E. Geier, Museum number 1982.18. It was exhibited in Future Retrieval: Close Parallel, 2021, illustrated in Amy M. Dehan's catalogue, p. 3, fig 2., with an accompanying Meissen porcelain tureen to highlight the similarities between the porcelain and silver forms.