Tea at Trianon: Soup Tureen

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Soup Tureen

A wedding gift from Empress Maria Theresa to her favorite daughter, Mimi.

LONDON.- Bonhams is to sell a rare Imperial soup tureen created by the most important artisan of silver objects of Viennese Neoclassicism during the Enlightenment (c.1650 to 1800). The tureen is being offered at as part of the Fine Silver and Gold Box Sale on June 19th at its New Bond Street saleroom. It is estimated at £150,000 to £200,000. Michael Moorcroft, Director of Bonhams Silver Department, comments: “The Sachsen-Teschen service has emerged from the shadows of the past to a glittering future”. The soup tureen was a wedding gift from Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, the mother of Maria Christina and Marie Antoinette, to Archduchess Maria Christina and her husband, Prince Albert Casimir. “Mimi” (as Maria Christina was affectionately called by her mother) fell in love with her second cousin, Prince Albert, and was especially taken by his “interest in everything beautiful, in the fine arts, and in his idealistic dreams to do good”. In spite of his prestigious title, the Prince’s family had become impoverished in the Seven Years’ War and so Maria Christina’s marriage to the Prince would not be profitable. Besotted with Albert, “Mimi” manipulated her mother into allowing the marriage to go ahead. Not only did the couple get permission to marry, they also received a large dowry comprised of some of the most important gold and precious objects created during the Enlightenment. Large parts of the ensemble were made by Franz Caspar Wurth, including the First Sachsen-Teschen Service ever produced. This service was later to be melted to be replaced by an even more spectacular service by Caspar Wurth’s son, Ignatz, part of which is the present soup tureen being auctioned at Bonhams. Marie Antoinette was given a very similar service as a dowry made by Ignatz Wurth. While it is Marie Antoinette who has been immortalised by history, Maria Christina was Maria Theresa’s favourite child and for this she was excluded by the rest of the family, including sister Marie Antoinette. “Mimi” was given the cold-shoulder as she was the only daughter who was allowed to choose her own husband and marry Prince Albert for love. Indeed, the sisters never reconciled and it is believed that on the beheading of Marie Antoinette, Maria Christina remained cool and remarked that her sister should never have married. The soup tureen marks this special relationship between the mother and the daughter, but is also a symbol of the romantic love between Maria Christina and her husband.

More Information: http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=11&int_new=62536#.UZqPxEq-X1W[/url]
Copyright © artdaily.org

ONDON.- Bonhams is to sell a rare Imperial soup tureen created by the most important artisan of silver objects of Viennese Neoclassicism during the Enlightenment (c.1650 to 1800). The tureen is being offered at as part of the Fine Silver and Gold Box Sale on June 19th at its New Bond Street saleroom. It is estimated at £150,000 to £200,000. Michael Moorcroft, Director of Bonhams Silver Department, comments: “The Sachsen-Teschen service has emerged from the shadows of the past to a glittering future”. The soup tureen was a wedding gift from Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, the mother of Maria Christina and Marie Antoinette, to Archduchess Maria Christina and her husband, Prince Albert Casimir. “Mimi” (as Maria Christina was affectionately called by her mother) fell in love with her second cousin, Prince Albert, and was especially taken by his “interest in everything beautiful, in the fine arts, and in his idealistic dreams to do good”. In spite of his prestigious title, the Prince’s family had become impoverished in the Seven Years’ War and so Maria Christina’s marriage to the Prince would not be profitable. Besotted with Albert, “Mimi” manipulated her mother into allowing the marriage to go ahead. Not only did the couple get permission to marry, they also received a large dowry comprised of some of the most important gold and precious objects created during the Enlightenment. Large parts of the ensemble were made by Franz Caspar Wurth, including the First Sachsen-Teschen Service ever produced. This service was later to be melted to be replaced by an even more spectacular service by Caspar Wurth’s son, Ignatz, part of which is the present soup tureen being auctioned at Bonhams. Marie Antoinette was given a very similar service as a dowry made by Ignatz Wurth. While it is Marie Antoinette who has been immortalised by history, Maria Christina was Maria Theresa’s favourite child and for this she was excluded by the rest of the family, including sister Marie Antoinette. “Mimi” was given the cold-shoulder as she was the only daughter who was allowed to choose her own husband and marry Prince Albert for love. Indeed, the sisters never reconciled and it is believed that on the beheading of Marie Antoinette, Maria Christina remained cool and remarked that her sister should never have married. The soup tureen marks this special relationship between the mother and the daughter, but is also a symbol of the romantic love between Maria Christina and her husband.

More Information: http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=11&int_new=62536#.UZqPxEq-X1W[/url]
Copyright © artdaily.org