High-quality Empire samovar in silver and ebonised wood. Standing on a three-sided base plate of ebonised wood on three curved, fluted legs with curved palmette feet, a conical body with a strongly recessed, profiled shoulder and a domed, round stopper lid with a pommel in the shape of three fish balancing an acorn on their hind fins. A half-relief double-headed bird sits on each of the stylised pedestals of the three legs, holding the chain suspensions for the fuel bowl hanging below the body in its beaks. The spout protrudes from the mouth of a mythical creature and has an ebonised wooden knob. The lid monogr. "M" under a baronial crown. Marked 12 lot, tremolier stroke, hallmark, master Franz Seyffert (active around 1800). Total weight approx. 2480 g. H. 43 cm. Cf. Scheffler, Mittel- und Nordostdeutschland, ill. 364Ff, 400. A German Empire silver samovar. Monogrammed. Standard mark 12, test, assay and master's mark. German. Magdeburg. Around 1800.