A Pair of Russian Porcelain Plates from the Children's Service of Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich. Imperial Porc...

Description

A Pair of Russian Porcelain Plates from the Children's Service of Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich
Imperial Porcelain Factory, St. Petersburg, Period of Catherine II (1746-1798), circa 1790
6-3/4 inches (17.1 cm) (each)

PROVENANCE:
A La Vieille Russie, New York.

EXHIBITED:
The Exhibition of Russian Art, 1 Belgrave Square: London, June 4th - July 13th, 1935, cat. no. 150-AN.

LITERATURE:
The Exhibition of Russian Art, 1 Belgrave Square: London, June 4th - July 13th, 1935, p. 40;
von Wolf, N. ИМПЕРАТОРСКИЙ ФАРФОРОВЫЙ ЗАВОД 1744-1904, St. Petersburg: 2003.


This exceptional pair of children's plates were commissioned from the Imperial Porcelain Factory as part of a diminutive service intended for her grandson, Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich (1779-1831).

The second son of the Tsesarevich and Grand Duke Paul Petrovich (later Paul I ) and his wife Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna, the young Grand Duke Konstantin, like his elder bother Alexander, was largely removed from his parents' custody to be raised by Catherine II who said of their mother: "she is incapable of raising princes." (Massie, S. Pavlovsk). The diminutive service had very few pieces, and these two plates were first seen publicly in 1935 when they were shown at the Exhibition of Russian Art in Belgrave Square.

After the exhibition, the plates were separated from one another, and A La Vieille Russie was able after many years to acquire both and to reunite the pair - an exceptional survival from the end of the period of Catherine II.


Estimate: $20,000 - $40,000.

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