Set of Twelve Royal Copenhagen Flora Danica Dessert Plates

18075R: Set of Twelve Royal Copenhagen Flora Danica Dessert Plates
Danish, 20th Century
Height 3cm, Diameter 23cm (each)

This fine set of twelve Royal Copenhagen porcelain dessert plates from the prestigious Flora Danica service is among the most celebrated and historically significant porcelain patterns ever produced. Each plate is decorated with a different hand-painted botanical specimen, rendered with the scientific precision and delicate artistry that has defined the Flora Danica pattern since its inception in 1790.
The plates are of circular form with a beautifully reticulated gilt border of exceptional refinement, the delicate openwork rim gilded throughout and decorated with scrolled and beaded detailing. Each centre is painted with a different wild botanical specimen, depicted with roots, stems, leaves and flowers intact in the manner of a scientific illustration, set against the pure white porcelain ground.
The Flora Danica service traces its origins to 1790, when the Danish Royal Manufactory was commissioned to produce a service of extraordinary ambition, each piece painted with a different specimen drawn from the great 18th-century Danish botanical encyclopaedia of the same name. The tradition of hand-painting each piece individually, with every plant carefully identified on the reverse in Latin, has been maintained without interruption to the present day, making each plate both a unique botanical record and a work of decorative art.
Each plate bears the Royal Copenhagen factory marks to the reverse, including the green crowned circular stamp, the three characteristic blue wavy lines — the manufactory’s emblem since its founding in 1775 — together with model number 3559 and individual painter’s marks.
$ 27,000