The Ministry of Culture has successfully purchased a silver candlestick in the Empire style from the Obrenović royal court for €28,000 from the “Schloss Ahlden” auction house in Germany.
The item was offered as part of an “International Auction of Artworks,” with an estimated value of €23,000 listed on the auction house’s website.
Culture Minister Nikola Selaković stated that this is the largest silver item that once belonged to Serbian royal court furniture.
“The five-armed Empire-style candlestick, featuring a sculpture of the goddess of victory, Nike (Victoria), weighs over eight kilograms of silver, is 78 centimeters tall, and is the work of the famous Viennese goldsmith Anton Kohla. The base of the candlestick has a cast-silver coat of arms of the Kingdom of Serbia,” Selaković emphasized in a ministry statement.
He added that the ministry will continue its efforts to bring “Serbian cultural treasures scattered around the world” back to the homeland.
“There is great symbolism in this candlestick, which we are bringing home after decades of wandering the world, and that is why its purchase makes me especially proud,” Selaković concluded.
In its ongoing effort to return movable cultural property of great cultural, historical, and national significance to the country, the Ministry of Culture has, in the past year, acquired several items at auctions.
These include a framed photograph of Queen Natalija Obrenović, two Serbian manuscript books (“Serbian Octoechos” and “The Life of Barlaam and Josaphat”), letters from Mileva and Albert Einstein, a walking stick with a binocular handle featuring the Obrenović family crest and dynastic motto, and the 1884 painting “Portrait of a Girl with a Book in an Armchair” by Uroš Predić.
Source: Tanjug Photo: Schloss Ahlden Auctions