A Meissen porcelain plate from the St. Andrew's service for Tsarina Elisabeth I
Gotzkowsky model. Decorated with the imperial Russian eagle in the upper lip, below it the cross of the Order of Saint Andrew. The centre with a blossoming rose sprig and blue morning glories. Blue crossed swords mark, dreher's number 16, red varnish inventory no. ГЧ 1688. Minor wear to the ground. D 24.3 cm.
Around 744/45, model by Johann Friedrich Eberlein.
In 1745, as a sign of the strengthening of the Saxon-Russian alliance, the Russian Tsarina Elizabeth I was presented with what was probably one of the most extensive services ever produced in the Meissen manufactory, the so-called "St. Andrew's Service". Cassidy-Geiger assumes that the announcement of the marriage of the heir to the Russian throne Karl Peter Ulrich von Holstein-Gottorf (later Tsar Peter III Fedorovich) to Sophie Auguste Friederike von Anhalt Zerbst (later Tsarina Katharina II) in February 1745 led to the service, which had already been in production for six months, finally being presented as a gift on the occasion of their marriage on 2nd September 1745. The Tsarina was so proud of the gift that she initially kept the elaborately designed service in her private rooms. It was probably used for the first time on 12th December 1745 at the annual court banquet of the Order of St. Andrew
Provenance
Private collection, Palatinate.
Literature
For more on this service see Pietsch (ed.), Meißen für die Zaren. Porzellan als Mittel sächsisch-russischer Politik im 18. Jh., Munich 2004, p. 66 ff.
Cf. also Cassidy Geiger, Fragile Diplomacy. Meissen Porcelain for European Courts ca. 1710 - 63, New Haven-London 2007, p. 74 f., fig. 4-22.
Further items from this service are housed in The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, inv. nos. ГЧ-1746, ГЧ-1617, ГЧ-1734.