SILVER FROM THE ORLOFF SERVICE
The present dishes (see lots 161 and 162) are part of the so-called "Orloff Service"; they were made to support the cloches (dish covers) from that celebrated table service.
The service was ordered by Catherine II, the Russian Empress, in 1770, the first of five she was to order from Paris silversmiths. To this service was later attached the name of Orloff for Count Gregori Orloff (1734-1783) who received it as a gift from the Empress in September 1772, apparently as compensation for his dismissal as the Imperial favourite. It remained in the Count's possession until his death in 1783 and was then returned to the Imperial household.
The Empress commissioned the service from Jacques and Jacques-Nicolas Roettiers, then Orfèvres Ordinaires du Roi who were to act as main contractors. Several others, all leading Paris silversmiths, took plart in its completion including Edme-Pierre Balzac and Louis-Joseph Lenhendrick.
The service was for sixty settings and contained approximately three thousand pieces including eight soup tureens, eight pots-à-oille, eighty four candlesticks, thirty-six candelabra and one hundred and fourteen cloches. There were also one hundred and twelve dishes to support the cloches, all of them were most probably manufactured by Edme-Pierre Balzac but some bear instead the mark of Claude-Pierre-Deville the bankrupt Balzac being forbidden the use of his poinçon as to January 1772, presumably carried on his trade under the caution and the mark of Deville, his son-in-law.
The main pieces from the "Orloff Service" such as tureens, pots-à-oille, cloches, ... are famous for the sophistication of their Neo-Classical design and the sumptuousness of their decoration. It is therefore interesting to note that the present dishes, which are much less ornate, were nevertheless deemed refined enough to complement them on the Imperial table.
A pair of dishes, identical to the pair from lot 161 below, was in the D. David-Weill Collection, sold (with the accompanying cloches) in Paris, Palais Galliéra, 24 November 1971 (lot 52).
A SET OF THREE FRENCH SILVER DISHES FROM THE ORLOFF SERVICE
细节
A SET OF THREE FRENCH SILVER DISHES FROM THE ORLOFF SERVICE
Paris 1770 and 1771, maker's mark of Edme-Pierre Balzac
The rims shaped circular interrupted by accolades, engraved on the sides with the Imperial coat-of-arms, comprising two entrée dishes and one deeper dish, marked on reverses, and with "cow" export mark on rims, re-marked on reverse with Russian control marks for St. Petersburg 1778 and 1784, with assay scrapes, also engraved and stamped on reverses with Inventory numbers 51, 58 and 47 -- 31.5 cm (12½ in) diam.
The entrée dishes: 1,700 gr.
The deep dish: 900 gr. (3)
Paris 1770 and 1771, maker's mark of Edme-Pierre Balzac
The rims shaped circular interrupted by accolades, engraved on the sides with the Imperial coat-of-arms, comprising two entrée dishes and one deeper dish, marked on reverses, and with "cow" export mark on rims, re-marked on reverse with Russian control marks for St. Petersburg 1778 and 1784, with assay scrapes, also engraved and stamped on reverses with Inventory numbers 51, 58 and 47 -- 31.5 cm (12½ in) diam.
The entrée dishes: 1,700 gr.
The deep dish: 900 gr. (3)