The crowned double-headed eagle and the inscription suggest that the present tankard was a specific commission, but the identity of the recipient, or the person who ordered it, are currently unknown.  As the double-headed eagle lacks a coat-of-arms on its breast, it is unclear if it refers to Russia, the Holy Roman Empire or elsewhere.  The inscription Gardes de la Majeste implies that the tankard could have been destined for a member of a Queen’s guard.  Although the plural version of Gardes could indicate a body of people rather than an individual, the inaccuracy of the inscription (which should read Gardes de sa Majesté) may indicate that the engraver, or the person supplying the engraver with the inscription, had a limited familiarity with French.  Although women did drink beer in the 18th century, it is more probable that a tankard was for a man, suggesting that this may have been a gift from a Queen to a member of her guard, or to someone she considered a protective influence.

It is perhaps possible that the Queen consort to Augustus ‘the Strong’ of Saxony, Christiane Eberhardine of Brandenburg-Bayreuth (1671-1727), may be connected.  The inclusion of a coin with Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor (r. 1705-1711), in the cover could point to a connection with the Holy Roman Empire, possibly also indicated by the double-headed eagle.  The Holy Roman Empress Wilhelmine Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg, or her mother-in-law the Dowager Empress Eleonore Magdalene of Neuburg (who became Regent of the Holy Roman Empire when Emperor Joseph died in 1711), may perhaps be connected.  Emperor Joseph’s daughter Maria Josepha married Augustus the Strong’s son, who later became Augustus III in 1733.

It is interesting to note that the Russian double-headed eagle is sometimes depicted clutching thunderbolts, as is the case on the present tankard, and at the time this tankard was made, Peter the Great of Russia (r. 1682-1725) officially married his second wife Catherine (r. 1725-1727) in St. Petersburg in February 1712.¹ It has been suggested that a Böttger red stoneware portrait plaque of Peter the Great (of circa 1712) could have been given to the Russian monarch by Augustus ‘the Strong’ at a similar time,² and it is an attractive speculation that the present tankard may be connected in some way.

Whether any of these connections are relevant to the present tankard awaits further research.

1.  They had purportedly married in secret in 1707, although no record of this exists.
2.  This suggestion was made by Ulrich Pietsch, former Director of the State Porzellansammlung, Dresden; for this and the example of the portrait plaque in the Porzellansammlung, Dresden, see Pietsch (Ed.), Meissen für die Zaren, Residenzschloss, Dresden, 4 July-26 September 2004 Exhibition Catalogue, Munich, 2004, p. 42, Kat. Nr.1.  Lydia Liackhova notes that there is no documentary evidence for this gift, see Liackhova, ‘In a Porcelain Mirror’, in Fragile Diplomacy, The Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts, Design and Culture, New York, November 2007 – February 2008 Exhibition Catalogue, Singapore, 2007, p. 81, note 6.  For two similar Böttger stoneware plaques of Peter the Great in the Pushkin State Museum, see Blistatelnyy Drezden, 1989, Nos. 59-60.