A GROUP OF FOUR PORCELAIN PLATES AND PLATTERS FROM THE FARM PALACE BANQUET SERVICE, IMPERIAL PORCELAIN FACTORY, ST PETERSBURG, PERIOD OF NICHOLAS I (1825-1855)

Acquired by Edward C. Finch in Russia (then the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic) in 1927

Thence by descent

This rare collection of porcelain was acquired by Edward C. Finch alongside his historic acquisition of silver from the private collection of Prince Felix Yusupov and his wife, Princess Irina Alexandrovna and appears on the market for the first time since it was purchased in Russia in 1927.  

Princess Zinaida Nicolaevna Yusupov and Count Felix Sumakarov-Elston

An aristocrat and husband to Emperor Nicholas II’s niece, Prince Felix is perhaps best known for his participation in the assassination of Rasputin. Richer even than the Romanovs, the Yusupov family amassed their fortune over many generations. Their fortune included four palaces in Saint Petersburg, three palaces in Moscow, thirty-seven estates throughout Russia, coal and iron-ore mines, plants and factories, mills and oil fields on the Caspian Sea. Forced into exile following the Emperor’s abdication, Felix and Irina fled Russia with very few of their possessions.

Hidden Treasure

Before fleeing in autumn 1917, Prince Felix Yusupov sought to conceal a portion of his family's treasures from the Revolutionaries. Jewellery and art objects, including the Yusupov Scandinavian service (lot 149), were walled up under a staircase of the Yusupov's Moscow house, a former hunting lodge of Ivan the Terrible (see Prince Felix Yusupov, Lost Splendor, New York, 2014, p. 277). The Bolsheviks occupied most of the Yusupov’s properties, including the mansion in central Moscow. It was not until 1925 during repairs to the building that a secret storage, containing jewellery, gold and silver, was found under the staircase.

The Soviet government held a very pragmatic view of Imperial treasures, selling them abroad or even melting them down. Thankfully, some of this group was salvaged in September 1927, when a wealthy American traveller Edward C. Finch bought it from a Soviet shop to benefit Russian children. It was during his travels in Russia that Edwards C. Finch also collected the present group of porcelain from the Farm Palace Banquet Service (lots 151-157).

This group of treasures travelled to the United States, where it remained in Edward C. Finch’s private family collection, from which it is now presented.

Edward C. Finch

Edward Corwin Finch (1862 – 1933) was an American businessman, real estate developer and philanthropist in the state of Washington. He served in the Washington State Senate from 1927 to 1931 and travelled to Russia while on honeymoon with his second wife.

The Farm Palace Banquet Service

The Banquet Service for the Farm Palace was commissioned in March 1840, probably in preparation for the Grand Duke's marriage to Marie of Hesse and Rhine (the future Empress Maria Alexandrovna) in 1841. The relatively small service comprised only 36 covers and, together with its lavish decoration, indicates that it was intended for the most exclusive dinners hosted in the future Emperor's household.