Lot 62
  • 62

A Set of Ten Russian Dessert Plates from the Kremlin Service, Imperial Porcelain Manufactory, St. Petersburg, Period of Nicholas I (1825-1855)

Estimate
40,000 - 60,000 USD
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Description

  • with blue Imperial cypher of Nicholas I
  • Porcelain
  • diameter 8 3/4 in.
  • 22 cm
the cavettos painted with the black double-headed Imperial Eagle with crown, orb and sceptre on a green ground, enclosed within a gilt band inscribed in Russian 'Nicholas, Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias,' surrounded by vermilion rosettes and foliate ornament on a richly gilded ground, the border decorated with lapis blue and emerald green flowers and interwining foliage on a burnished gilt ground.

Provenance

The Kremlin Palace
"Magnificent Imperial Russian Banqueting Services," Christie's London, March 21, 1967
Anonymous
Sotheby's London, December 15, 1994, lots 289, 291, 292, 294, and 295, illustrated

Condition

some minor wear
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Catalogue Note

When Fedor Solntsev (1801-1892) set out to design the dessert plates for a service to be used in the newly completed Great Kremlin Palace, he once again again looked to 17th-century metalwork in the Imperial collections for his model. In the case of the richly ornamented dessert plates, the source was a sumptuous gold plate made for Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovich (1629-1676) by masters of the Moscow Kremlin Armory in 1667 which appears in volume 5 of his monumental study of the material culture of pre-Petrine Russia, Drevnosti rossiiskago gosudarstva (Antiquities of the Russian State, Moscow, 1849-1853). Solntsev, and the painters of the Imperial Porcelain Manufactory following him, carefully evoked the brilliant surface of the polished gold with brightly colored enamel decoration and replaced the original dedicatory inscription to Aleksei Mikhailovich with a new one commemorating Emperor Nicholas I. On this service, see I. Gorbatova, "Kremlevskii serviz F.G. Solntseva," in Russkii farfor: 250 let istorii, Moscow, 1995, pp. 24-27 and T. Kudriavtseva, Russian Imperial Porcelain, St. Petersburg, 2003, pp. 130-132.