A PAIR OF PORCELAIN TOPOGRAPHICAL PLATES

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

Details

A PAIR OF PORCELAIN TOPOGRAPHICAL PLATES
by the Imperial Porcelain Factory, St. Petersburg, period of Alexander I
Circular, the centers transfer-printed and painted with the views of the Pavlovsk's Park and fountain at Peterhof with pink borders and gilt stylized foliage and berry rims, between gilt bands, each inscribed on the reverse, apparently unmarked
9½in. (24cm.) diameter (2)

Literature

Wolff, N. Imperial Porcelain Factory, (St. Petersburg, 1907) p. 131 for similar plates
Hyvönen, H. Russian Porcelain, (Helsinki, 1982) pp. 86-91 for illustrations
Rovinskii, D. Detailed Dictionary of Russian Engravers, (St. Petersburg, 1895) pp. 129-130
Komelova, G. 'Series of engraved Views of St. Petersburg', Russian Culture and Art in the 19th Century, (Leningrad, 1985) p. 19 for illustrations

Lot Essay

Early in his reign Alexander I reorganised the Imperial Porcelain Factory, appointing as its director the Minister of Economic Affairs, Count D.A. Gur'ev. A new form of decoration developed with transfer-printing techniques, copying well-known paintings and drawings. The views printed on these plates were taken from a series of views of St. Petersburg and its environs engraved between 1801 and 1813 by S. Galaktionov, and M. Shotochnikov, comprising four views of Gatchina, three of Kamennoi Ostrov, eight of Pavlovsk and eight of Peterhof.

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