Royal House of Saxony - Restitution
Hi Harold, in 1998
Point de Vue reported that in exchange for the
objet d'art on display in the museums of Dresden, the Saxony government returned
Schloss Moritzburg to the Margrave of Meissen, but I can't find confirmation.
However, I found this today...
The Meissen Blog - MEISSEN MASTERPIECES
dated 14 November 2006
"London – A collection of four 18th century Meissen porcelain masterpieces are to be offered for sale in London on 18 December 2006 in the British and Continental Ceramics sale. This outstanding Meissen collection includes two white porcelain models of a lion and lioness (estimate: £3,000,000-5,000,000) and a white model of a fox and hen (estimate: £200,000-300,000) commissioned for the Japanese Palace in Dresden together with a white element vase in the form of a ewer (£10,000-15,000).
The works of art have been recently restituted to the heirs of the Royal House of Saxony, the Wettin family. Commenting on the Meissen masterpieces, a spokesperson for the Royal House of Saxony said: “The Wettin family has worked closely, and over many years with the authorities to achieve a successful outcome of the restitution of many works of art among which are these four Meissen porcelain objects, commissioned by our forebear Augustus the Strong. This has only been possible since the unification of Germany in 1989 and has been an emotional journey for us all. Our four Meissen models have been housed in the Zwinger in Dresden, which has the largest collection of Meissen porcelain. While we are not in a position to retain these works of art in our family, we are however pleased that further examples of the same models remain in the Zwinger and on view to the general public.”
The Soviet occupation of East Germany after the Second World War resulted in the Royal House of Saxony fleeing their property and becoming refugees within West Germany. Absolutely everything was left behind. Their personal possessions collected through the generations were either looted, confiscated by the Soviet occupying forces or later recovered from various castles by the East German State and housed in various museums. Following the unification of Germany in 1989, the heirs of the Royal House of Saxony and the State of Saxony reached a comprehensive settlement over the restitution of Wettin property in 1999. Since then, the heirs of the Royal House of Saxony have devoted considerable energy and time to locating their family heirlooms. In every case, when pieces were restituted, the Royal House of Saxony has negotiated a settlement with the State of Saxony which allowed the State to retain for their museums a considerable amount of exquisite works of art of both historical and art historical importance."
and this:
Striking gold | Spectator, The | Find Articles at BNET
dated 1 January 2000
"What was the last great object sold at the end of the millennium? A l7th-century silver-gilt marriage cup in the form of a near life-size Moor's head, crowned with a plumed headdress set with rock crystal. This unusually sculptural piece of virtuoso goldsmiths' work was an appealingly international object too, having been made in Augsburg by Christoph Jamnitzer and probably commissioned to commemorate an important Florentine dynastic marriage in 1615. The only problem with this magnificent Schatzkammer trophy was that it looked as though it had spent the last 50 years buried in a forest in a gradually decomposing wooden crate. As indeed it had. Part of the spectacular collections accumulated by the Electors and Kings of Saxony and hastily hidden in the grounds of Schloss Moritzburg as the Red Army advanced on Dresden in 1945, the cup belonged to a comparatively tiny cache unearthed only three years ago after an amateur treasure-hunter, literally, struck gold.
After two years of restitution negotiations between the State of Saxony and the now Canadian-based Royal House of Wettin, the property, along with some 16,000 other family items, was divided between the two parties."
This article dated '02.04.07'
Adel verpflichtet - wozu eigentlich? - Ausf. Hintergrund | MDR.DE
Sächsischen Königshauses Wettin
may say a lot more, but it's in German.
