A Set of Eleven Russian Porcelain Oyster Dishes from the Raphael Service, Imperial Porcelain Manufactory, St. Petersburg, Period of Nicholas II (1894-1917)

of circular shape with rounded handle, the centers with finely painted classical figural vignettes en grisaille against an iron red ground in a circular reserve, surrounded by nine radiating panels decorated with foliate trophies and grotesques, the handle with mythical or real animals en grisaille against an iron red ground, with gilded rim and foot.

Christie's New York, April 29, 1987, lots 34-38, illustrated

some rubbing to gilding, all of the the oyster dishes with inherent marks under the handles, probably from kiln blocks positioned during firing
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.

Inspired by the 400th anniversary of the birth of the Renaissance master Raphael Sanzio da Urbino (1483-1520) in 1883 and a major exhibition held in St. Petersburg that year, Emperor Alexander III specially commissioned the Raphael Service for use in Great Catherine Palace of Tsarskoe Selo. The Raphael service was the most important service produced at the Imperial Porcelain Manufactory in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The ornament is carefully derived from motifs in the Hermitage's Raphael Loggia, which had been copied for Catherine II after frescoes by Raphael and his students in the loggias of the Vatican. The service's primary decoration alternates panels with human and animal figures interwoven with scrolls and foliage and medallions with antique figures en grisaille set against gray, celadon, iron red, or light blue backgrounds. The project was so complex that Leonard Leonardovich Schaufelberger (1839-1894), head of the manufactory's painting workshop, oversaw the designs, and Emperor Alexander III personally approved most of them. Indeed, the service was so unusual that pieces from it are uniquely marked with large, stenciled ciphers of the ruling monarch in tooled gold Slavonic script. The ornately painted service was completed in 1903 after twenty years' work and included only fifty place settings. The following year, the service was moved to the Anichkov Palace in St. Petersburg for use by the Dowager Empress Maria Fedorovna. On the service and its history, see T.V. Petrova's note in Pod tsarskim venzelem, St. Petersburg, 2007, pp. 200-201.