BY THE IMPERIAL PORCELAIN FACTORY, ST PETERSBURG, PERIOD OF NICHOLAS II, POSSIBLY 1913

From the beginning of the 20th century, the Imperial Porcelain Factory introduced new vase forms and styles of painting. Underglaze painting became predominantly focused on characteristically Russian themes, executed on a white ground. Factory artists increasingly used primarily neo-Russian ornament and derived inspiration from nature. When discussing this new development, a contemporary critic described a landscape similar to the one on the present vase: '[the director of the Imperial Porcelain Factory wants] the artists to look out of the window, to observe this pale, darkening towards the horizon, colourless sky, this cold greenery of the embankment trees [...] and especially the lead and radiant blue waters of the Neva river' (N. B. von Wolf (ed. V.V. Znamenov), Imperatorskii Farforovyi Zavod, 1744-1904, St Petersburg, 2008, pp. 651).
For examples of vases with similar decoration, see N. B. von Wolf (ed. V.V. Znamenov), Imperatorskii Farforovyi Zavod, 1744-1904, St Petersburg, 2008, pp. 664-667.