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Lot Essay
This service was given by the Saxon Elector Friedrich August II (King August III of Poland) to Elizabeth I Petrovna on the occasion of the marriage of her nephew, Grand Prince Peter Fedorovich, later Peter III, to Sophie-Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst, later Catherine II Alekseevna (Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia 1762-1796).
Some 440 pieces of the service are listed in an inventory (dated 5 November 1745) of chattels belonging to the Imperial household of St. Petersburg, and 145 pieces are still in the Hermitage. For another plate and a discussion of the service see D. Hoffmeister, Meissener Porzellan des 18. Jahrhunderts, Katalog der Sammlung Hoffmeister, Hamburg, 2000, Vol. II., pp. 546-547, no. 363 and pp. 572-574. See also U. Pietsch, Frühes Meissener Porzellan Sammlung Carabelli Munich, 2000, p. 264, no. 135, and R. Rückert, Meissener Porzellan, Munich, 1966, no. 482.
The Order of St. Andrew, the highest of all Russian Imperial Orders, was founded in 1698 by Peter the Great, and the cross is a simplified version of the Order's badge; depicted without the black double-headed eagle that usually accompanies it, and St. Andrew is also depicted without a halo. The letters at each end of the cross, S, A, P and R are an abbreviation of Sanctus Andreas Patronus Russiae.
For other plates from the service, similarly marked with Russian red wax inventory numbers, see Christie's, New York, 17/18 November 1999, lot 381; Christie's, London, 6 November 2008, lot 231; Christie's London, 13 December 2001, lot 6531, and Christie's, London, 29 November 2011, lot 35.
Some 440 pieces of the service are listed in an inventory (dated 5 November 1745) of chattels belonging to the Imperial household of St. Petersburg, and 145 pieces are still in the Hermitage. For another plate and a discussion of the service see D. Hoffmeister, Meissener Porzellan des 18. Jahrhunderts, Katalog der Sammlung Hoffmeister, Hamburg, 2000, Vol. II., pp. 546-547, no. 363 and pp. 572-574. See also U. Pietsch, Frühes Meissener Porzellan Sammlung Carabelli Munich, 2000, p. 264, no. 135, and R. Rückert, Meissener Porzellan, Munich, 1966, no. 482.
The Order of St. Andrew, the highest of all Russian Imperial Orders, was founded in 1698 by Peter the Great, and the cross is a simplified version of the Order's badge; depicted without the black double-headed eagle that usually accompanies it, and St. Andrew is also depicted without a halo. The letters at each end of the cross, S, A, P and R are an abbreviation of Sanctus Andreas Patronus Russiae.
For other plates from the service, similarly marked with Russian red wax inventory numbers, see Christie's, New York, 17/18 November 1999, lot 381; Christie's, London, 6 November 2008, lot 231; Christie's London, 13 December 2001, lot 6531, and Christie's, London, 29 November 2011, lot 35.