拍品專文
The cypher is that of Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovitch (1798-1849), the fourth son of Tsar Paul I.
Mikhail and his two elder brothers, Tsar Alexander I and Grand Duke Nicholas Pavlovitch (who was to become Tsar Nicholas I), both ordered in Paris, after Napoleon's downfall, very extensive services from the leading silversmiths of the period including Biennais, Odiot, Cahier and Naudin.
The present tray is similar to another, slightly smaller tray bearing the mark of Biennais, formerly part of the David-Weill and Givenchy collections (sold at Christie's Monaco, 4 December 1993, lot 46). The attribution of the present one to Cahier is due to its feet, identical to those on a tureen from the same service (Espirito Santo Foundation Lisbon; Les Grands Orfèvres de Louis XIII à Charles X, Paris, 1965, p. 289, illustrated) and bearing Cahier's mark.
Mikhail and his two elder brothers, Tsar Alexander I and Grand Duke Nicholas Pavlovitch (who was to become Tsar Nicholas I), both ordered in Paris, after Napoleon's downfall, very extensive services from the leading silversmiths of the period including Biennais, Odiot, Cahier and Naudin.
The present tray is similar to another, slightly smaller tray bearing the mark of Biennais, formerly part of the David-Weill and Givenchy collections (sold at Christie's Monaco, 4 December 1993, lot 46). The attribution of the present one to Cahier is due to its feet, identical to those on a tureen from the same service (Espirito Santo Foundation Lisbon; Les Grands Orfèvres de Louis XIII à Charles X, Paris, 1965, p. 289, illustrated) and bearing Cahier's mark.