King of Hanover Ernest Augustus, 1^st Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale - A pair of Victorian Royal sterling silver second course dishes, London 1841 by messrs Barnard

Of gently penta-lobed circular form with a gadrooned edge interspersed with acanthus leaves and ovolo’s. The field engraved with the coat of arms Royal Arms of the United Kingdom 1801-1816, charged with a label of difference. Each fully marked to the reverse. (2)

Diameter – 31.2 cm / 12.25 inches

Weight – 2033 grams / 65.36 ozt

Ernest Augustus (1771-1851) was the fifth son of George III and Queen Charlotte. From 1786 to 1799 he was in Germany, first at Gottingen university then in the Hanoverian army. On his return he was created Duke of Cumberland where this new position included an income of £12,000 a year and an apartment in St. James' Palace. The initials EDC, for Ernest Duke [of] Cumberland, appear on much of his early plate. The initials EAFs, standing for Ernest Augustus Feideikommiss, were added to items forming part of the entailed estate after he succeeded as King of Hanover in 1838. The silver collection went with the exiled Kings to Vienna in 1866, and part was sold through Crichton Brothers, London, in 1924.

Much of the Duke’s silver, which varies in date and maker, are engraved with two sets of initials: EDC (Ernest Duke of Cumberland) and EA with Fs below. EAFs refers to listed in the inventories and files of the Ernst August –Fideikommiss founded by King Ernst August (1771-1851) in 1843. The content was his own property with various acquisitions and the inheritances of his sister Auguste Sophie (1768-1840) and of his wife Friederike (1778-1841). The aim was the “Erhaltung des Glanzes Unserer Krone“ (the preservation of the glory of Our Crown). The silver objects belonging to this Fideikommiss were signed with EAFs in 1855 when also the main inventory was drawn up which was revised in 1905. The lists of the silver of Auguste Sophie which are in the files concerning the Ernst August-Fideikommiss are dated 1841. Further on the silver is listed in the inventories of the Königliche Hof-Silber-Cammer.

Provenance

Ernest Augustus, 1^st Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale, since 1837 King of Hanover (1771-1851) by descent to

Ernest Augustus, Crown Prince of Hanover, 3^rd Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale (1845-1923), sold to Glückselig in 1924 and subsequently purchased in 1924 by Lionel Alfred Crichton (Crichton Brothers), 22 Old Bond Street, London.