[Royal House of Hannover interest] A set of twelve German silver dinner plates from the Hardenberg service by Emmanuel Abraham Drentwett, Augsburg, circa 1755-60, each shaped circular plate with reeded, shell and scroll borders, later engraved with a monogram GRIII with a royal crown above, each marked underneath with maker's mark only, engraved scratch weights and 14 Lötig, 26.7cm (10 1/2in) diameter, 7026g (225.9 oz) The monogram is that of King George III of Great Britain and Elector of Hanover (reigned 1760-1820).Provenance: Friedrich Karl von Hardenberg (1696-1763). Purchased from his sister-in-law in March 1779 by the Hanover Court.Literature: L. Seelig, Das Silberservice König Georgs III. Von Robert-Joseph Auguste und Frantz Peter Bundsen: zur Goldschmiedekunst des frühen klassizimus in Paris, London, und Hannover, Müncher Jahrbuch der bildenden Kunst, 2007, vol. 58, pp. 141-206.L. Seelig, The King George III Silver Service by Robert-Joseph Auguste and Frantz-Peter Bundsen: Goldsmiths' Art in the Neo-Classical Style in Paris, London and Hanover, Journal of the Silver Society of Canada, 2010, vol. 13, pp. 66-67.L. Seelig, The King George III Silver Service, The Journal of the Silver Society, 2012, no. 28, pp. 87-89, figs. 16a-16c. These plates are part of a French and German service ordered by Friedrich Karl von Hardenberg (1696-1763), a Hanoverian courtier. He was appointed in 1741 to be head of the royal gardens and building department in Hanover. The service included Parisian made silver and additions were ordered during his lifetime and later by his sister-in-law in Augsburg and Hanover. The service was sold in March 1779 to the court for 7,471 reichstaler, 4 groschen, 5 pfennig. As Seelig discusses in his 2010 and 2012 articles The King George III Silver Service..., the plates are not marked with the Augsburg town mark but are engraved with 14 Lötig denoting a standard of .875.See Christie's London sale From Roentgen to Faberge: A European Private Collection, 20th May 2015, lot 57 for a set of twelve by Abraham Drentwett IV from the same service.