Each circular, the borders pierced and engraved with foliage and anthemia, with hippocamps to one side flanking a cartouche engraved with a coat-of-arms, and to the the other a pierced rosette, marked on sides
4 in. (10.1 cm.) diameter,
13 oz. (404 gr.)

For Prince Camillo Borghese (1775 - 1832), who married Pauline Bonaparte (1780 - 1825), in 1803.
The Borghese Palace Sale; Giacomini and Capobianchi, Rome, 28 March - 9 April, 1892, part of lot 847.
Don Antonio Licata, Prince of Baucina, from 1892.
Ercole Canessa (1868 - 1929), Naples, Italy, after 1892 but before 1924.
With Mrs. Edith Rockefeller McCormick (1872 - 1932), by 1824-1934, sold; American Art Association/Anderson Galleries, New York, 5 January 1934, part of lot 672, 673, 674 or 675.
The C. Ruxton and Audrey B. Love Collection: Magnificent Silver-Gilt including Russian Works of Art and Objects of Vertu; Christie's, New York, 19 October 2004, lot 135.

A. Phillips and J. Sloane, Exhibition catalogue, Antiquity Revisited: English and French Silver-Gilt, London, 1997, p. 106, no. 29.

Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, June 1924 - November 1932.
New York, Christie's, Antiquity Revisited: English and French Silver-Gilt from the Collection of Audrey Love, September 1997.

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Lot Essay

The Borghese Service, comprising 500 silver-gilt objects primarily by the French Imperial silversmith Martin-Guillaume Biennais and over 1,000 pieces of table silver, was traditionally thought to have been a gift from Napoleon to his second sister Pauline Bonaparte (1780 - 1825) on the occasion of her marriage to Prince Camillo Borghese (1775 - 1832) in 1803. However, Biennais inscribed a number of pieces "Orfèvre de Lrs. Mtés. Impériales et Royales" indicating that most of the service post-dates 1805, when Napoleon was styled King of Italy. In addition, many of the French pieces have Paris hallmarks for 1809-1819. The service, which was probably split between Rome and Florence during the lifetime of Pauline and Camillo Borghese, was reunited at the Borghese Palace by 1892, when it was sold as one lot at the auction which dispersed the entire contents of the Palace.

The Borghese service included sixty-four wine coasters, in two sizes. The larger coasters were presumably used for bottles, the smaller coasters were used for glasses. The wine coasters produced by Biennais, of which a pair were also offered from the Collection of C. Ruxton and Audrey B. Love, Christie's, New York, 19 October 2004, lot 133, served as the model for Florentine and Roman silversmiths, such as the Scheggis who produced the pair offered here, when filling out the Borghese service in the 1820s. The Scheggis were an important family of silversmiths in Florence, producing commissions for Grand Duke Ferdinand III of Tuscany and publishing a number of silver designs in the Magazzino di Mobilia. The brothers Luigi and Vincenzo, and the latter's sons Angelo and Ferdinando, all used the mark found on the present wine coasters around 1825.