KREMLIN SERVICE.
Set of three presentation bowls (compotiers), slightly hollow on a porcelain pedestal, with a central decoration of the double-headed eagle of the Russian Empire on a green background, surrounded by the inscription in black Cyrillic characters "Nicolas, emperor and autocrat of all the Russias" surrounded by flower buds, bordered by a garland interlaced with polychrome flowers on a gold background. The outer part is decorated with polychrome flowers on a gold background alternating with foliage. No visible marks. Good condition.
Imperial porcelain factory, Moscow, Nicolas II period (1894-1917).
H.: 9 cm - Diam. 22cm
History: this service was commissioned by Emperor Nicolas I in 1836 from the Imperial Porcelain Factory, for the Kremlin Palace in Moscow, to serve
during major imperial events. It was then used on the occasion of all the coronations of the sovereigns who preceded it and the last time it was used
was in 1913 during the grand gala dinner on the occasion of the Tercentenary of the Imperial House of Romanoff. The decor was made by Féodor Grigorievitch Solntsev
(1801-1892), from the observation of the medieval collections stored in the armory of the Kremlin, but the patterns of the plates were directly inspired by the pieces
jewelry in polychrome cloisonné enamels offered in 1667 to Natalia Kirilovna (1651-1694), née Naryshkine, wife of the second Tsar Alexis Mikhailovich (1629-
1676), first ruler of the Romanov dynasty. The Kremlin service consists of two parts: the white service, used for supper, and the gold service, intended for
dessert. It was made for five hundred people, with two thousand dinner plates, a thousand soup plates and a thousand dessert plates. At that time dessert services were
always more elaborate than the table services which could in certain aspects seem simpler.
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