From the Galitzine Service

Description

From the Service of Field Marshal Alexander Mikhailovich Galitzine

Two-handled silver dish with the Galtzine coat-of-arms

Engraved underneath N° 2 and with Russian weight 2.F: 48.Z. as well as 32=17
By Andreas Joseph Rath, Vienna 1737

Length overall 37cm, Weight 1006gr

The Russian weight of 2 Funt (or Pud) 48 Zolotniki adds up to 1022 grams.

Prince Alexander Mikhailovich Galitzine (1718-1783) was the son of Field Marshal Prince M. M. Golitsyn and Tatyana Borisovna, daughter of Prince B. I. Kurakin. He joined the Preobrazhensky guards regiment and was an ensign in 1731. When after the death of his father the family fell from favour under Empress Anna Ivanovna. Galitzine went to Austria, where at the age of 17 he fought in the Austrian army and gained the notice of Prince Eugene of Savoy. After his return to Russia in 1740 he distinguished himself in the Seven Years’ War and in the Russo-Turkish Wars with the capture of Kothyn. In 1775 Catherine the Great made Galitzine governor general of Saint Petersburg, where he carried out public works to beautify the city. On 7 August 1782 he inaugurated the Peter the Great monument on Senate Square. He died in 1783 and was buried in the Church of the Annunciation at the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.