BY THE IMPERIAL PORCELAIN FACTORY, ST. PETERSBURG, PERIOD OF PAUL I

The Dowry Service for Maria Pavlovna (1786-1859), was made during the reign of Paul I (1796-1801), several years before the wedding of his daughter to Karl-Friedrich Grand Duke von Sachsen in 1804, possibly signifying the betrothal of the young bride. The service follows the design originally seen in the grisaille and gilt classical Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich service commissioned in 1790 and followed by the Cabinet Service with floral borders, as the Dowry Service, and which was executed in 1795. The latter being widely considered the highest decorative achievement of the Imperial Porcelain Factory for the period of Catherine II. A note attached to the dish gives details of the provenance up to the death of Wilhelm-Ernst Grand Duke von Sachsen-Weimar (1876-1923) who succeeded his father in 1901 and abdicated in 1918.