A pair of St. Petersburg porcelain dinner plates from the Raphael service
Decorated with an image of a classical lady and a centaur in a hexagonal reserve on red ground. The border with a burnished gold meander and grotesques as well as animals, grotesques, and griffons in 12 reserves. Gilt basal ring. Large iron red and gold contoured enamel owner's monogram AIII, gilt 1891., green dot. D 24 and 24.1 cm.
St. Petersburg, Imperial porcelain manufactory, 1891.
The Raphael Service was the largest, most expensive, and most imposing commission to be carried out by the Imperial Porcelain Manufactory in the latter quarter of the 19th century. The ceremonial service encompassed 50 place settings and was planned for use in Tsarskoye Selo. The work on the service continued for the next 20 years, with its final completion in 1903. It was transferred to Anichkov Palace in 1904 at the behest of Tsarina Maria Fedorovna.
The design was decided upon by manufactory director Leonhard Schaufelberger (1839 - 94) under the personal guidance of Tsar Alexander III. The opulent décor adopts motifs from Rapphael's frescoes in the Loggia of the Vatican, which Giacomo Quarenghi also drew from for his decoration of the winter palace in 1793. The plates represent a beautiful synthesis of fine craftsmanship, crisply wrought ornamentation, and excellence in miniature painting.
Provenance
Lower Saxon private collection.