Vienna Circa 1780: An Imperial Silver Service and Its European Significance

Learn more about the exhibition Vienna Circa 1780: An Imperial Silver Service Rediscovered on view at the Met April 13, 2010 - November 7, 2010: http://met.org/fmI821 Wolfram Koeppe, curator, Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Following the acquisition in 2002 of a pair of wine coolers from the Sachsen--Teschen Service, the core of the surviving parts was discovered in a French private collection. This superb ensemble was last displayed at the beginning of the twentieth century. Wine coolers, tureens, cloches, candelabra, candlesticks, dozens of plates, porcelain-mounted cutlery, and other kinds of tableware, totaling more than three hundred items, represent the splendor of royal dining during the ancien régime. It was made for Duke Albert Casimir of Sachsen--Teschen (1738--1822) and his consort, Archduchess Marie Christine of Austria (1742--1798), daughter of Empress Maria Theresa, by the Imperial court goldsmith Ignaz Josef Würth. The Sachsen--Teschen Silver Service, an embodiment of Viennese Neoclassicism, is shown in the context of contemporary silver from other countries.