BY THE IMPERIAL PORCELAIN FACTORY, ST. PETERSBURG, PERIOD OF ALEXANDER III, 1894

Commissioned in 1893 for the palace at Tsarskoe Selo, the Raphael Service was the largest and most important porcelain service produced by the Imperial Porcelain Factory during the reign of Alexander III (1881-1894). The designs were originally derived from Raphael frescoes in the loggias of the Vatican, which were subsequently reproduced in the Winter Palace by Quarenghi (1783-1872) during the reign of Catherine the Great. Finally completed in 1903, the service comprised fifty place settings. In 1904 it was transferred to the Anichkov Palace for use by the Empress Maria Feodorovna.