Imperial German Silver Presentation Trophy for the Kaiserin Auguste Victoria-Jagdrennen

£34,000.00

Description

Imperial German Silver Presentation Trophy for the Kaiserin Auguste Victoria-Jagdrennen
Hamburg, 1907
An important Imperial German Silver presentation trophy awarded at the Ehrenpreis der Freien und Hansestadt Hamburg (“Honorary Prize of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg”) for the prestigious Kaiserin Auguste Victoria-Jagdrennen, held in Hamburg in 1907 during the reign of Wilhelm II.
The inscription:
“Victoria-Jagdrennen Hamburg 1907
Ehrenpreis der Freien und Hansestadt Hamburg
für das Kaiserin Auguste Victoria-Jagdrennen”
Places the object firmly within the ceremonial and aristocratic sporting culture of the late German Empire. Such Jagdrennen (“hunt races” or steeplechases) formed part of the elite equestrian traditions of Wilhelmine Germany, where horse racing functioned not merely as sport, but as a public display of military horsemanship, aristocratic prestige, and imperial pageantry.
Named in honour of Auguste Viktoria (1858–1921), consort of Wilhelm II, the race reflected the close association between the imperial court and Germany’s major racing institutions. During this period, Hamburg had emerged as one of Europe’s principal centres of thoroughbred racing, with the Hamburger Renn-Club and the great race meetings at Horn and Klein Flottbek attracting aristocratic owners, cavalry officers, and wealthy patrons from across the German Empire.
The title Berolina-Jagdrennen similarly belonged to this world of elite Imperial German steeplechasing. “Berolina,” the allegorical female personification of Berlin, symbolized the prestige and metropolitan identity of the imperial capital. These races were closely connected with the great racing venues of Berlin and Hoppegarten Racecourse, where members of the nobility, military officers, and prominent sporting circles gathered under imperial patronage.
Contemporary reports indicate that the 1907 Berolina-Jagdrennen was won by the horse Gerolstein, owned by Lieutenant von Lippa and ridden by Bastian, reflecting the close relationship between cavalry culture and steeplechase racing in pre-First World War Germany. Officers of the Prussian cavalry frequently participated in such competitions, which were regarded as tests of bravery, discipline, and horsemanship.
Executed in a richly sculptural Jugendstil manner characteristic of luxury German silverwork circa 1905–1910, the trophy combines flowing repoussé ornament, vine-scroll decoration, mask terminals, and architectural openwork supports. Comparable honorary racing prizes of the period were commissioned by civic authorities or aristocratic patrons and presented as symbols of imperial favour and municipal pride.
Objects of this type survive as rare witnesses to the ceremonial culture of the Kaiserreich — a world in which sport, military tradition, civic identity, and imperial symbolism were inseparably intertwined on the eve of the First World War.
Measurements:
Height: 34 cm
Width: 57 cm
Weight: 7.386 kilograms

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Product REF: SKU000000124