Object number :
A Dresden silver candlestick made for Prince Elector Friedrich Christian of Saxony
Dresden, Marks of Heinrich Leobolt Schmey, 1763
H 15.1 cm, weight 250 g.
Round, moulded base with central recess supporting a baluster-forn shaft with cylindrical nozzle. Conjoined FC monogram with electoral crown and inventory no. 34
Frederick Christian was the third son of Frederick Augustus II and succeeded his father to the Saxon electoral throne on 5th October 1763, reigning for just 74 days before he died of smallpox on 17th December at the age of 41.
Rosenberg mentions Schmey’s candlesticks and dinner service in the Court Silver Collection, ‘almost 200 pieces in total’. The present candlestick can be found in the silver chamber inventory of 1789: pages 822 and 823 list ‘Fifty round candlesticks, marked with FC’, including number 34, the piece up for auction here, with its weights in marks and lots. On the opposite page of the inventory, under ‘Disposal’, it is noted that numbers 22 – 49 were sold in 1816 ‘by the highest order’.
Literature references Regarding the master, see also Walter Holzhausen and Edmund Kesting, “Splendid Vessels, Jewelry, Cabinet Pieces, Goldsmithing in Dresden,” Tübingen 1966, p. LXXXVIII.
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