View full screen - View 1 of Lot 304. A rare porcelain centrepiece from the Cabinet service, Imperial Porcelain Factory, period of Catherine II, circa 1795.

Property from the Collection of Boris Fuchsmann, Germany

A rare porcelain centrepiece from the Cabinet service, Imperial Porcelain Factory, period of Catherine II, circa 1795

Auction Closed

November 25, 06:21 PM GMT

Estimate

30,000 - 50,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

the basket-form top section with a band of vari-coloured flowers on a gilt ground below openwork and a gilt rim, the foot decorated with gilt beading and laurel swags, gilt-edged curved handles, apparently unmarked


height 30.5 cm; 12 in.

With Kugel, Paris;

Christie's London, 29 November 2010, lot 314


In 1793, Empress Catherine II commissioned one of the most important services produced by the Imperial Porcelain Factory as a gift for her chief minister, Count Aleksandr Bezborodko (1747-1799). Numbering more than 900 pieces for serving dinner, dessert, and tea, the service was painted with Italianate views within polychrome floral borders on a white ground. Some of the larger pieces, such as baskets and centerpieces, were not painted with views. The service was nearly complete by the time of Bezborodko's death in 1799, after which time it was transferred to the crown and later acquired the name Cabinet Service. Some important services that followed, such as the dowry services of the daughters of Paul I, drew their inspiration from the Cabinet Service, both in their form and decoration.


A centrepiece of identical form to the present lot, from the Iusupov Service, is illustrated in N.B. von Wolf (ed. T.N. Nosovich), Imperatorskii farforovyi zavod, 1744-1904, St Petersburg, 2008, p. 163. For further examples from Cabinet Service, see N.B. von Wolf, op. cit., pp. 112-117.