ONE WITH MARK OF MARTIN-GUILLAUME BIENNAIS, PARIS, 1809-1819; THREE WITH MARK OF JEAN-CHARLES CAHIER, PARIS, 1819-1838

Name: A SET OF FOUR FRENCH EMPIRE SILVER-GILT WINE COOLERS FROM THE PAVLOVITCH SERVICE
Brand: ONE WITH MARK OF MARTIN-GUILLAUME BIENNAIS, PARIS, 1809-1819; THREE WITH MARK OF JEAN-CHARLES CAHIER, PARIS, 1819-1838
Price: 30000.00 GBP
Availability: OutOfStock

Estimate

GBP 30,000 - GBP 50,000

Closed: 22 Sep 2022

Loading details

Try our

A SET OF FOUR FRENCH EMPIRE SILVER-GILT WINE COOLERS FROM THE PAVLOVITCH SERVICE

ONE WITH MARK OF MARTIN-GUILLAUME BIENNAIS, PARIS, 1809-1819; THREE WITH MARK OF JEAN-CHARLES CAHIER, PARIS, 1819-1838

Closed: 22 Sep 2022

Details Lot Essay Related Articles More from

Each plain cylindrical on circular foot cast with palm leaf border, applied on the upper body with a grapevine border, the flaring rim with anthemion border, with two bracket handles with fluted calyx terminals, applied on each side with a foliate Cyrillic monogram beneath a crown, marked underneath, on foot-rim and body, and engraved with Imperial inventory numbers, No. 41, No. 46, No. 49 (Cahier), and 33 (Biennais)
8¹⁄₂ in. (21.5 cm.) high
219 oz. 8 dwt. (6,825 gr.)
The monogram and crown are for Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich (1798-1849).

Anonymous sale; Christie's, Geneva, 1 May 1974, lot 118 (pair by Cahier) and lot 119 (one Cahier and one Biennais).

This lot has been imported from outside of the UK for sale and placed under the Temporary Admission regime. Import VAT is payable at 5% on the hammer price. VAT at 20% will be added to the buyer’s premium but will not be shown separately on our invoice.
Please note this lot is the property of a consumer. See H1 of the Conditions of Sale.

Conditions of Sale
FAQs
This lot is offered by Christie Manson & Woods Ltd

Brought to you by

Sale EnquiresCollections: London

A Christie's specialist may contact you to discuss this lot or to notify you if the condition changes prior to the sale.

CollectionsEnquiriesLondon@christies.com

Lot Essay

These wine-coolers are part of an extensive group of items commissioned by the Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich (1798-1849), the youngest child of the Russian Emperor Paul I and his wife Maria Feodorovna, and brother to the Emperors Alexander I (1801-1825) and Nicholas I (1826-1855). The Emperor Paul and, later Alexander, set aside the vast sum of nine million roubles to build Grand Duke Mikhail a new palace in St. Petersburg. The Mikhail Palace was built between 1819 and 1823 by the Italian architect and designer Carlo Rossi, who was responsible not only for the building itself but also for every detail of the interior decoration. Grand Duke Mikhail married in 1824, Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna, Princess of Wurtemberg. The Palace, with the finest interiors of the day, is now the Russian Museum.

Together with his brother Nicholas I, Grand Duke Mikhail patronised the leading Parisian silversmiths. The Biennais and Cahier workshops produced the enormous Mikhail Pavlovich service, which comprised over one thousand pieces. Both silversmiths' marks appear on different parts of the same pieces, as with the present lot. In 1819, Biennais retired and sold the business, archives and designs to Cahier. By 1828 Cahier was bankrupt. Today pieces from the service are in the collections of the Hermitage, the Kremlin, the Rijksmuseum and the Espirito Santo Foundation in Lisbon. Three pairs of double salt cellars from the service sold at Christie's, Geneva, 1 May 1974, lots 103-105. A pair of five-light candelabra by Cahier sold at Christie's, Geneva, 19 November 1996, lot 37. Other pieces from the Pavlovich service include a pair of French silver-gilt wine-coasters and a set of three silver-gilt both by Cahier sold at Christie's, Geneva, 17 November 1998, lots 164-170 and 171.