A Berlin KPM porcelain dinner plate from the dinner service for the Grand Duke of Russia
Model no. 631. Decorated with a double-headed eagle beneath the imperial crown holding the Russian coat-of-arms and that of the house of Holstein-Gottorp. Blue sceptre mark, pressnummer 2. Minor chips to the basal ring. D 24.6 cm.
1778.
The order for the service is recorded in Frederick II's treasury accounts on 5th June 1778. The Prussian king ordered a "table service for the Grand Duke of Russia". It was to be decorated "with the Russian coat-of-arms and very rich gilding". A delivery date is not mentioned. The service was presumably sent directly from the manufactory to Russia.
Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich (1754 - 1801), was Duke of Holstein-Gottorp from 1762 to 1773 and ruled the Russian Empire as Paul I until his death in 1801. Surprisingly, he received the service even before he took office, and after he had to renounce the Duchy of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp. Another possible occasion for the gift would be his marriage to Sophie Dorothee of Württemberg in 1776. Generally, Frederick II's order is interpreted as an expression of his desire to influence the Russian crown prince politically.
The service was located in Gattschina Palace until the end of the 19th century. The inventory lists of 1884 mention a total of 357 pieces. After 1917, these pieces came into possession of the Gattschina Museum. In 1938, 58 service items were sold by the Antikvariat (Central Office for the Purchase and Realisation of Antique Objects), which was founded in 1925. The Soviet Union exported numerous works of art via this organisation from 1918 to 1938 and offered them for sale on the Western market.
Literature
For more on this commission see Lenz, vol. 1, Berlin 1913, p. 16.
Parts of the service illustrated in Köllmann/Jarchow, Berliner Porzellan, illus. vol., Munich 1987, no. 291 a/b (from private collections in Berlin, Charlottenburg Palace and the Berlin Porcelain Collection in the Belvedere).
Numerous pieces offered by Christie's London, Popoff Gallery, 12th October 2009, lot 156.
See also Lempertz Berlin auction 1150 on 25th April 2020, lot 199, for eight pieces from the same service.