Pair of tureens JOHANN GEORG HANN (active 1780-1812). Vienna, ca. 1800. Silver. With hallmarks. Pieces for export to France and tax stamp 1806/07 to finance the Napoleonic wars. With initials L.S.B. under crown and coat of arms of Maslov Andreii Timofeevich (1770-1828). Total weight: 12-13 kg. approx. Bibliography consulted: "Vienna, circa 1780. An Imperial Silver Service Rediscovered", Wolfram Koeppe, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and Yale University Press, New Haven and London. Measurements: 52 x 45 cm. The realization of the pair of tureens on tender cannot be understood without its fervent historical context: we move to Vienna around the year 1792 when, due to the revolutionary wars in Brabant and France, Maria Christina of Austria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Teschen are forced to flee from Brussels to settle permanently in the Austrian capital. Together with them, the court brought all the ducal goods (dishes, tableware, furniture, porcelain from Saxony and Meissen, among many other luxurious and exquisite items) to the city on the Danube. However, after the sad and unexpected death of his wife in 1798 due to typhus, Prince Albert withdrew into himself in the Albertina, today considered one of the most important museums in the world, arranging and expanding his artistic treasures and those of his late wife, thus creating one of the most important art collections of our days. Among the multitude of craftsmen and artists who roamed the princely milieu of the time, the name of Ignaz Joseph Würth stands out, "one of the most sought-after and influential goldsmiths of his time, whose creations inspired both his colleagues and members of his family and survive today in important museums around the world," says Wolfram Koeppe in his study "Vienna, circa 1780. An Imperial Silver Service Rediscovered." Consequently, "silver forms of extraordinary inventiveness and superb quality were produced in the years between 1775 and the early 1790s, and it is clear that Ignaz Joseph Würth's contemporaries, competitors and followers closely observed the master's style," Koeppe continues. Notable among them is a tureen currently in the collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein, which was once associated with the Albert collection and was in fact used with the Second Saxony-Teschen Service. "Made in 1794 by Johann Georg Hann in Vienna, it constitutes one of the last efforts to achieve the style of the Würth dynasty; at the same time, its oversized foot and tall legs anticipate the next stylistic developments that would spread throughout Europe, those of late Neoclassicism and the Empire period," Koeppe asserts. For this reason, the pair of neoclassical tureens that we now present become a true testimony of what the Albertine court and its important artistic legacy meant for the cultural discourse of the Austrian capital. Made by the most excellent silversmith Johann Goerg Hann in Vienna around 1800, both pieces follow a stylistic discourse of similar characteristics, with the exception of the reclining figure that ornaments the main bodies and that varies slightly one with respect to the other. Both tureens are elevated on a large circular dish supported on claw feet, which gives way to an inverted cup-shaped shaft. The body of the tureens has two side handles and a lid with a handle. The silver is carefully worked, sometimes chiseled with profuse plant motifs, while at other points worked with exquisite figurative bas-reliefs, cornucopias and floral motifs or, in certain parts such as the handles, even maintaining the simplicity of polished silver. It is worth noting the high decorative value of the handle, with a succession of palmettes and fruits that add distinction and finish off the whole in a superb way. A tureen by Johann Georg Hann is now in the Museum Für Angewandte Kunst in Vienna (inv. N. GO 1817) and in the collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein, Vaduz-Vienna.