Ewer And Basin, King William III Of The Netherlands, Sterling Silver, Goldsmith Foehr In Stuttgart

Splendid ewer and its Louis-Philippe period basin in solid silver and vermeil with the cypher of His Majesty King William III of the Netherlands. It is executed in 812.5% silver and weighs particularly heavy for its size. Exceptional fact: the interiors of the two objects are covered with a thick layer of gold plating.
The W with a royal crown for Willem III is present on both pieces .
The calligraphy of the W is the same as that used by his grandfather King William I.
But the hallmark of the master silversmith Foehr, supplier to the court of the kings of Württemberg, pushes us in the direction of William III who, despite the opposition of his parents, in 1840 married his first cousin Princess Sophie of Württemberg.
Their marriage was a total failure, both lovingly and dynastically.
The couple very quickly began to hate each other deeply and engaged in a merciless war while keeping appearances during official events.
Of the three princes who were born from their very ephemeral love, only the eldest and the youngest will reach adulthood.
Tragically they both died before their father just like their mother.
The monarch, who was at odds with his sons and his royal wife, auctioned off their entire estates upon their respective deaths.
It is probably at one of these public sales that our present set took the path of the art trade.
Widower without dynastic descent, this sixty-year-old king and great womanizer in front of the eternal rebuilds a family life from scratch by marrying the young princess Emma of Waldeck-Pyrmont, more than four decades his junior.
The courageous young woman and her only daughter Wilhelmine will form the basis of this formidable series of four queens who will rule the Netherlands from 1890 to 2013.
This is an absolutely unique historical fact in the history of civilizations.
The set weighs 1840 grams.