Part of the large table service of Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich, son of Tsar Paul I of Russia.

Mikhail Pavlovich (1798–1849), Grand Duke of Russia, was the youngest son of Tsar Paul I (1754–1801) and brother of Tsars Alexander I (1777–1825) and Nicholas I (1796–1855). Occupying an exceptional position at the imperial court, he commissioned numerous works of art. In 1819, he began construction of a monumental palace in St Petersburg, today the home of the Russian National Museum. Among the commissions intended for the palace was an extraordinary silver-gilt service, acquired in Paris, including a very extensive flatware service, of which the pieces of cutlery offered for sale at MATER formed a part.

Confiscated by the Russian revolutionary government around 1917, the Mikhail Pavlovich service, including the flatware, was subsequently disposed of between the 1920s and 1940s, in the context of the Soviet policy of selling heritage confiscated from the former imperial elite.

Among the most active purchasers of important pieces of silverware from the Soviet state was, for example, Calouste Gulbenkian (1869–1955). Part of the Pavlovich service also made its way to Lisbon, acquired by the banker Ricardo do Espírito Santo Silva (1900–1955) from the Swiss dealer Auguste Seiler (1879–1948) and his widow, between 1947 and 1949, the Lisbon banker having assembled tureens, candlesticks, plates and numerous pieces of cutlery.

In 1954, Espírito Santo publicly presented these pieces in the exhibition 'Les Trésors de l'Orfèvrerie du Portugal', held at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris between November 1954 and January 1955 (cat. 475–491). The exhibition was subsequently presented in Lisbon, between April and May 1955, at the recently founded Museu da Fundação Ricardo do Espírito Santo Silva (cat. 501–517). At the time, it was believed that the monogram on the service referred to the wife of Tsar Paul I. This identification would, however, prove to be incorrect, and it is now accepted that the service belonged to his son, Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich.

Ricardo do Espírito Santo Silva died a few months after the exhibition, in November 1955. Following his death, his pieces from the Pavlovich service were notably lent by his widow, Mary Cohen Espírito Santo (1903–1979), for the banquet offered to Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom (1926–2022) at the Lisbon City Hall, on 19 February 1957. Shortly afterwards, Mary Espírito Santo disposed of several of the finest pieces of silverware from her husband's collection, among which these pieces of cutlery from the Pavlovich service, now offered by MATER, may have been included.

Pieces from this flatware service are currently held in important private collections and in the collections of the Hermitage Museum, in St Petersburg, and the Rijksmuseum, in Amsterdam.

MATER wishes to thank Dr Hugo Xavier for his assistance in cataloguing this lot.

Mikhail Pavlovich (1798–1849), Grand Duke of Russia;

Probably Alexander Lyudvigovich (1814–1884), 2nd Baron de Stieglitz;

Confiscated and sold by the Soviet government between the 1920s and 1930s;

Possibly Auguste Seiler (1879–1948), Vevey, Switzerland;

Possibly Ricardo do Espirito Santo Silva (1900–1955), Lisbon;

Private collection, Lisbon;

Private collection, Porto.

Catalogue of the "Exposição de Ourivesaria Portuguesa e Francesa", FRESS, April–May 1955. Lisboa: Oficina Gráfica Lda., 1955.

Catalogue of the exhibition "Les Trésors de l'Orfèvrerie du Portugal", Musée des Arts Décoratifs de Paris, November 1954–January 1955.

A part of the Pavlovich flatware service was sold, on 20 May 2015, by Christie's (sale 3730, lot 264).