Four Royal Copenhagen 'Flora Danica' Porcelain Serving Plates

18075Q: Four Royal Copenhagen 'Flora Danica' Porcelain Serving Plates
By Royal Copenhagen (Danish, founded 1775)
Height: 5cm, diameter: 38.5cm

This set of four graduated serving plates, two of larger and two of smaller size, was made by Royal Copenhagen in the twentieth century for its Flora Danica service, the most exclusive of the factory's patterns. The design traces its origins to 1790, when King Christian VII of Denmark ordered the service as a diplomatic present intended for Empress Catherine II of Russia, drawing its decoration from the great Danish botanical encyclopaedia after which it is named. The service has been produced in strictly limited quantities ever since.
Each plate carries at its centre a botanical specimen painted by hand, copied faithfully from the engravings of the original eighteenth-century publication. Around this, the wide borders are decorated with rectangular gilt reserves alternating with raised gilt bosses and stylised leaf motifs, while a band of gilt dentil ornament encircles the central study and sets it against the bright white of the porcelain.
To the reverse, each plate bears the blue wave mark and green printed factory mark of Royal Copenhagen, along with the shape numbers and the Latin name of the plant represented: Pyrola rotundifolia L. (round-leaved wintergreen), Rosa alba Vahl. (white rose), Tilia vulgaris Hayne. (common lime), and Verbascum cuspidatum Schrad. (mullein).
Royal Copenhagen, established in 1775 under royal patronage, ranks among the great porcelain houses of Europe, and Flora Danica remains its supreme achievement,  a service still painted entirely by hand, entrusted only to the manufactory's most skilled artists.
$27,000