Jules Rocher, circa 1887 - Lot 101

Jules Rocher, circa 1887 PAIR OF FLAT CHEESE OR SORBET CUP DISHES FROM THE TABLE SERVICE OF FERDINAND I, PRINCE OF BULGARIA AND KING OF THE BULGARIES. Engraved with the crown of Ferdinand I of Bulgaria. Model with ribbed edge based on the design of the dinner service commissioned in 1834 by his maternal grandfather Louis-Philippe Ier, the last King of the French, and presented in lots. Silver-plated metal Diameter: 18.8 cm Hallmarks: by the goldsmith Jules Rocher (1884-1923) Provenance : -Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1861-1948), Prince of Bulgaria (1887-1908) then King of the Bulgarians (1908-1918) -by descent Ferdinand de Saxe-Cobourg et Gotha (1861-1948) was the youngest son of Prince Auguste de Saxe-Cobourg and Princess Clémentine d'Orléans, daughter of King Louis-Philippe I. He became Prince of Bulgaria (1887-1908) and King of the Bulgarians (1908-1918). He became Prince of Bulgaria (1887), then King of the Bulgarians (1908) under the name of Ferdinand I. His first marriage was to Princess Marie-Louise de Bourbon-Parme (1893). The couple had four children, Boris, Cyrille, Eudoxie and Nadège. Widowed in 1899, he remarried in 1908 to Princess Eléonore de Reuss-Köstritz (1908). Intelligent, refined and cultured, Ferdinand I of Bulgaria was passionate about writing, botany, entomology and philately, as well as trains and train driving. He was forced to abdicate in favor of his son, Boris III, after being defeated by the Army of the East in 1918. King Ferdinand of Bulgaria died in Coburg in 1948, shattered by the fall of the Bulgarian monarchy (1946) and the grief of having experienced, in the twilight of his existence, the death of his eldest son, King Boris, in 1943 after meeting Chancellor Adolph Hitler, and then the death of his second son, Prince Cyril, executed in 1945 by the Communists while acting as regent for his nephew, H. M. King Simeon II.M. King Simeon II, aged just seven. [XD]