• Galerie Popoff: An Enduring Pa auction at Christies

    Sale 7677

    Galerie Popoff: An Enduring Passion for Russian Art

    12 - 13 October 2009, London, King Street

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  • Lot 44

    Part of a cobalt porcelain Solitaire Service

    BY THE IMPERIAL PORCELAIN FACTORY, ST PETERSBURG, PERIOD OF PAUL I, 1796-1801

    Price Realised  

    Part of a cobalt porcelain Solitaire Service
    by the Imperial Porcelain Factory, St Petersburg, period of Paul I, 1796-1801
    Comprising a covered tea-pot of bulbous form with faceted spout, a covered coffee-pot of baluster form with pointed spout, a milk jug of cylindrical form with shaped spout, each on spreading gilt foot, the body painted with a multi-coloured bouquet of pink roses in a circular white ground reserve, framed within a gilt band, the cobalt ground body with a gilt foliate detailed continuous border, with a similarly decorated oval tray, the centre painted with a bouquet of roses in an oval white ground reserve, the handles with gilt detail, the tea-pot and coffee-pot covers with ball finial, marked under bases of coffee-pot and milk jug with dark blue underglaze 'E II' and dot, and of tea-pot and tray with dark blue underglaze 'P' beneath a crown
    Coffee-pot 7 in. (17.8 cm.) high, tray 13 5/8 in. (34.5 cm.) long (4)


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    Items,such as these known at the Imperial Porcelain Factory as shaped in antique façon, were inspired by Sèvres models, and in particular by a toilette service presented by Marie-Antoinette to the Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna during her visit to France in 1782.

    It was during the last year of the reign of Catherine II that the Imperial Porcelain Factory began to produce objects imitating antique vessels using gilt ornamentation and cobalt glaze. Such objects continued to be popular throughout the reign of Paul I and into the first years of Alexander I's rule. Cobalt déjeuner services, similarly shaped, were also listed in the dowries for the Grand Duchesses, the daughters of the Emperor Paul I, Alexandra Pavlovna and Elena Pavlovna.

    Special Notice

    No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.


    Literature

    Masterpieces of 18th c..., number 48.