83. Auktion - Auktionen Dr. Crott

side of the plaque show the portrait of a bearded man in monochrome
enamelling. Interior lid with central oval miniature portrait of Prince
Frederick of the Netherlands and Prince of Orange-Nassau in uniform,
dedication: “Souvenir de S.A.R.le Prince Frédéric des Pays-Bas, 25 Octobre
1850. Granitza” (“Commemorating His Royal Highness Prince Frederick of
the Netherlands, 25. October 1850. Granitza”).
Prince Frederick (or Prince William Frederick Charles) of the
Netherlands, Prince of Orange-Nassau (1797-1881)
Prince Frederick was the second son of King William I and his wife
Princess Wilhelmine Louise of Prussia; the prince he was mainly educated
at the Prussian court. Frederick fought in the campaign of 1813 and later
joined the Dutch army and fought in the Battle of Waterloo. A house
treaty of April 4, 1815 stipulated that Frederick should receive the Orange-
Nassau family possessions upon his elder brother William’s accession to
the throne of the Netherlands; however, as the estates were no longer
in the possession of the family, he would receive the Grand Duchy of
Luxembourg instead. Frederick decided to relinquish his claim in 1816 for
domains which produced an annual income of 190,000 guilders and
additionally received the title of “Prince of the Netherlands”.
Shortly afterwards Frederick was appointed commissary-general of the
department of war, colonel general and field marshal of the army, admiral
of the kingdom and artillery grand master in 1829; he was extremely
active in all of these positions.
In 1830 Frederick led a corps to conquer Brussels but was forced into
retreat. The prince did excellent work in the reorganisation of the army
and the administration of the war efforts; however, after his father’s
abdication he withdrew from all public activities.
In 1816 Frederick was accepted into the Grand Lodge of Freemasonry
“Zu den drei Weltkugeln” (lodge of the three globes) in Berlin and was a
Grand Master of the Grand Orient of the Netherlands for 60 years. He was
also protector of the small Austrian lodge Munificentia in Carlsbad at a
time when freemasonry was prohibited in Austria. Frederick donated the
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German Bibliotheca Klossiana and the building of the Grand Lodge in The
Hague to the Grand Orient.
Prince Frederick lived in the Netherlands and on the estates he had
purchased at Muskau (formerly Granitza, Upper Lusatia), where he was
the last lord of the estate who took an active interest in the still existing
“Park of Muskau” Prince Hermann of Pückler-Muskau had created there.
Source: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Friedrich_Karl_von_Oranien-
Nassau, as of 03/16/2011
Romanticism in the early 19th century
In the early 19th century people were fascinated by cultural differences
and the notion that a long history and development had achieved the
contemporary level of civilisation in Europe. Foreignness and cultural
differences became objects of investigation. The romanticists of the early
19the century developed great interest and passion for the so-called
“native cultures” which suddenly seemed superior in ways to the highly
developed Western nations.
During the 18th and 19th centuries the Ottoman Empire’s policies of
expansion had come to a standstill and the Islamic world was in turn fast
becoming a target for the expansion ambitions of the European nations.
At the same time a strangely romanticised view of the Orient began
spreading through the Western world.
Napoleon’s Egyptian campaign (1798-99) brought a surge of interest in
the Pharaonic Period about that found its reflection in the applied arts of
the time; the Greek War of Independence, the Crimean War (1854-1855)
and the opening of the Suez Channel turned foreign attention to the
Middle East. European painters in the late 19th and early 20th centuries
such as Eugène Delacroix, Jean-Léon Gérôme and Alexandre Roubtzoff
worshipped the Orient’s sensuous beauty and tried to capture its mythic
essence in their works.
Romantic art comes in many different variations; it is, however, always
imbued with sensitivity and melancholy, embracing the past and
cherishing nature.
Sources: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orientalismus_%28Kunst%29 and
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/19._Jahrhundert, as of 03/30/2011
32412 G/C: 2, 4
40.000 - 60.000 EUR 56.400 - 84.600 USD 400.000 - 600.000 HKD