Plate (one of two)

Gottlieb Menzel

1730 · Silver gilt · European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

These plates are part of the addition to the Double-Gilded Service of about 1718. The number 224 incised on the reverse indicates the extent of this first grand German parade service, made for Albert’s grandfather Augustus II the Strong (1670–1733), king of Poland (1697–1704, 1709–33) and elector of Saxony (1694–1733; hence the engraved arms). The king is best remembered as a patron of the arts and architecture, commissioning the Zwinger Palace and the fabled Green Vault filled with jeweled treasures as well as separate chambers displaying silver and gilded-silver parade buffets. Augustus commissioned the so-called Double-Gilded (intended to imitate gold) Service from Augsburg, a center of European goldsmithing, on the occasion of the four-week-long festivities surrounding the wedding of Albert’s parents in August 1719.

Artist

Gottlieb Menzel

Date

1730

Medium

Silver gilt

Culture

German, Augsburg

Department

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Credit line

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, 1976