A German silver-gilt ewer, apparently unmarked, circa 1660

The King Consort, Ferdinand II, Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha 

Sotheby's Paris, 10 April 2008, lot 140

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Ferdinand II, Roi Consort, Prince de Saxe-Coburg et Gotha (1816-85)

Sotheby's Paris, 10 avril 2008, lot 140

The motifs chosen for the decoration of the ewer allude to its function as a vessel to hold water. However, despite this utilitarian purpose, it was conceived rather as a work of art, more specifically as an ornament for a buffet, an integral part of the display of magnificence orchestrated for court banquets during the Ancien Régime. Elaborate arrangements of silver and silver-gilt - often richly chased to glitter in the candlelight - were placed on credenze, creating a spectacular backdrop for ceremonial meals. These buffets were often substantial in scale: one created at the end of the 17th century for Friedrich III, Elector of Brandenburg, in the Berlin Schloss measured more than seven metres high. Another buffet display may be seen in Martin van Meytens's depiction of the banquet held in Frankfurt in April 1764 to mark the coronation of Archduke Joseph of Austria as Holy Roman Emperor (Schloss Schönbrunn, Vienna).

Prince Ferdinand II of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and Gotha-Koháry (1816–85) was the eldest son of Prince Ferdinand of Saxe- Coburg-Saalfeld and Princess Maria Antonia Koháry de Csábrág, heiress to the House of Koháry. Aged nineteen he married Maria II, Queen of Portugal (1819–53). he was her third husband. After the birth of their first son, the future King Pedro V, Prince Ferdinand became King of Portugal jure uxoris. When the queen died in 1853, as a result of complications following the birth of their eleventh child, Ferdinand assumed the regency of Portugal for two years, until their son Dom Pedro attained his majority.