GEORGE, PRINCE OF WALES: AN IMPORTANT SET OF THREE GERMAN SILVER-GILT CASTERS

MARK OF LEWIN DEDEKE, CELLE, 1722-23

Details

Comprising a sugar caster and pepper caster of octagonal baluster form on stepped domed bases, engraved with crest and motto of George II as Prince of Wales above applied mid-rib, the foliate pierced covers with press-button releases, the mustard caster with blind foliate piercing, with baluster finials, marked on undersides and with assay scrapes
8 1/2 in. (21.6 cm.) high, the sugar caster
35 oz. 4 dwt. (1,095 gr.) gross weight
Provenance

George, Prince of Wales, later King George II of England and Elector of Hanover (r.1727-1760).
By descent in the Royal family of Great Britain and Hanover until the death of King William IV in 1837, at which time the two kingdoms became separate under different monarchs.
Ernest Augustus, 1st Duke of Cumberland and King of Hanover (r.1837-1851), fifth son of King George III of Great Britain and brother of King William IV.
By descent to his grandson the Duke of Brunswick (1845-1923).
With Crichton Brothers, London, sold 24 October 1923.
Anonymous sale; Christie's, Geneva, 19 November 1996, lot 56.
Partridge Fine Arts, London, 1998.


Lot Essay

These casters are extraordinary examples of the plate made by the Hanoverian Court goldsmiths in the English taste. Strongly influenced by the English Huguenot style, with its reliance on severe geometric silhouettes, the Hanoverian goldsmiths produced silver of remarkable quality and beauty. The unusual press-button release to the cover of the casters is rarely if ever seen on English silver of the period.
As part of the Hanoverian Royal plate, these casters presumably remained at Herrenhausen, the Palace at Hanover, from 1722-23 until shortly after the Seven Weeks' War in 1866. The Palace was sacked by Prussian troops during the war but the Royal Plate was hidden in a vault. George Frederick, King of Hanover, was deposed during that war and the family was deprived of the title Kings of Hanover. They were henceforth known as Dukes of Brunswick and moved to Austria. The silver was moved to Penzing near Vienna and to the Duke's villa at Gmunden in Upper Austria. On the death of George Frederick's son Ernest Augustus, a considerable part of the Hanover silver, both English and German, was purchased by the Viennese dealer Gluckselig and appears to have been resold to the London dealers Crichton Brothers.
The maker of these casters, Lewin Dedeke of Celle, is known to have collaborated with the Hanover court goldsmith, Conrad Holling, from 1706-7 to 1726-7 (see W. Scheffler, Goldschmide Niedersachsens, Berlin, 1965, p.249). It is tempting to suggest that the D crowned and DD marks found in association with Holling's mark on Hanover Royal silver - the former on two flasks and the latter on three further flasks and the Luton Hoo ewers and basins (Sotheby's, London, 24 May 1995, lot 100) are perhaps unrecorded Dedeke marks. Lewin Dedeke's mark alone appears on a large number of pieces made for the Hanover Court, recorded at Penzing (see Scheffler, op. cit., p.250).