A Russian Silver Soup Tureen, Cover and Stand from the Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna Service.. Mark of Nicholls & Plincke, with the workmaster's mark of Carl Tegelsten, St. Petersburg, 1840.  photo: Christie's Images Ltd 2012 

The tureen shaped oval, on four acanthus scroll feet, with two acanthus-clad handles, engraved on one side with the cypher of Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna beneath an Imperial crown, with the Imperial double-headed eagle on the other, the everted rim cast with scrolling acanthus, the domed cover with scroll handle, with conforming stand on four knob feet, the interior gilt, the tureen marked under base, also with French import mark, further scratched 'No. 3' and with weight '22 F[unt] 87½ Zo[lotnik]', the underside of one foot stamped '4'; the stand marked under base, scratched 'No. 2' and with weight '11 F[unt] 84 Zo[lotnik]'; 15 in. (38.1 cm.) high; 486.7 oz. (13797.7 gr.) gross. Lot 21. Estimate $80,000 - $120,000..

Provenance: Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna (1822-1892) and Crown Prince Charles of Württemberg (1823-1891)
Acquired by the present owner in Vienna, 1960s.

Notes: Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna (1822-1892) was the second daughter of Emperor Nicholas I (1796-1855) and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna (1798-1860), n©e Charlotte of Prussia. She married Crown Prince Charles of Württemberg (1823-1891) in July 1846 at the Peterhof Palace outside of St. Petersburg. The couple lived mostly in the Villa Berg in Stuttgart and in the Kloster Hofen. After the death of his father in June 1864, Charles acceded the throne and became the third king of Württemberg, making Olga its fourth queen.
Emperor Nicholas I supplied his three daughters with lavish dowries, which included extensive silver services. Many of the silver services were produced by Carl Tegelsten (1798-1852), a master of Finnish descent. He received the commissions through the fashionable English Store, owned by the English merchants, Konstantin Nicholls and Wilhelm Plincke, which according to the court chamberlain Dolgoruky "enjoyed universal trust" (A. Odom, Russian Silver in America: Surviving the Melting Pot, London, 2011, p. 145). The service for Olga, of which the present lot is part, was to be in the "latest truly beautiful and fine English fashion" (M. N. Lopato, Iuveliry starogo Peterburga, St. Petersburg, 2006, p. 128).
Silver soup tureens by Carl Tegelsten from the dowry services of both Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna and Grand Duchess Alexandra Nikolaevna (1825-1844) were sold at Christie's, London, November 29, 2006, lot 226, and Christie's, London, November 29, 2010, respectively.

Christie's. The Van Cliburn Collection. 17 May 2012. New York, Rockefeller Plaza