Y AN INTERESTING STERN BOARD FROM A DIPLOMATIC AUSTRIAN SHIP...

Estimate

£1,000 - £1,500

Y AN INTERESTING STERN BOARD FROM A DIPLOMATIC AUSTRIAN SHIP'S DINGHY LATE 18TH CENTURY Carved of Honduras mahogany inlaid with ebony, coromandel, walnut and snake woods with painted decoration detailing an aristocratic armorial and two sailing frigates flying the red ensign and the Austrian Flag, old collection label to reverse46cm high, 81cm wide, 3cm deep Provenance: Ex Jeremy Ltd. LondonEx Finch and Co Ex Private collection The arms displayed on the ship's dinghy board are those of Johann Phillip Carl Joseph Von Stadion, Count of Warthausen (1763 - 1824). Born in Mainz he was a statesman, foreign minister and diplomat who served the Hapsburg Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. From 1787 to 1790 he was ambassador in Stockholm and then in London from 1790 to 1793 where he presumably used his ship's dinghy upon the Thames. He actively lobbied for England to join the coalition against Napoleon and reputedly went to Sicily at the time of Nelson when the Austrians were evacuated by sea. From 1793 to 1795 he had a measure of success as an envoy to St Petersburg where he played a large part in the formation of the 3rd coalition against Napoleon, which ultimately failed. After a period of retirement, he was entrusted with a mission to the Prussian Court where from 1800 to 1803 he endeavoured in vain to affect an alliance with Austria. After Metternich took over as Foreign Minister he became the Minister of Finance and during the last 10 years of his life spent a strenuous but partly successful attempt in reorganising the disordered finances of Austria, eventually founding the Austrian Central Bank.The historian Robert A. Kann has described him as 'a man of outstanding gifts, perhaps the foremost diplomat in Imperial Austrian history' (A History of the Hapsburg Empire 1526 - 1918).

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