A SET OF TWO EARLY 18TH CENTURY RELIGIOUS SEALS FROM THE COLLECTION OF DUKE CHRISTIAN AUGUST OF SAXONY-ZEITZ
A SET OF TWO EARLY 18TH CENTURY STEEL SEALS
Estimate: £3,000 - £5,000
Auction: Silver & Objets de Vertu | Wednesday 4th March at 10am
Description
Each of circular outline, finely engraved with coat of arms, mitre hat and religious motifs. the smaller with an iron handle (2)
Dimensions
7.3cm and 6.3cm diameter
Provenance
The Matrix Collection
Lempertz Auction 20th May 2016 - Selected Works of Art, lot 1024
Footnote
Duke Christian August of Saxony-Zeitz (1666-1725)
Christian August the Roman Catholic Cardinal played a significant role in contemporary church politics, as he was first canon and later Cathedral provost of Cologne. Both of these seals were used in his functions as bishop of Györ/Raab (as of 1696), cardinal/archbishop of Esztergom/Gran and primas of Hungary (1707).
He was Cardinal during the period that Augustus II The Strong was Elector of Saxony (from 1694) and the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1697 to 1706 and from 1709 until his death in 1733. Augustus himself had to convert to Catholicism in order to ascend the throne of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1697 and it was Christian August of Saxony-Zeitz who baptised him.