Plate from the Catherine the Great Service
Medium
Soft-paste porcelain, turquoise-blue ground, polychrome enamels, and gilding
Dimensions
2.9 × 26.1 cm (1 1/8 × 10 1/4 in.)
Classification
plate (general, dish)
Department
Applied Arts of Europe
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
142418
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
This striking plate is part of a dinner service commissioned by the Russian Empress Catherine II, called Catherine the Great (reigned 1761–96). The complete set of eight hundred pieces included sixty place settings, tea and coffee services, a centerpiece with figures representing the Arts and Sciences in biscuit (unglazed porcelain), and numerous architectural elements. The empress gave the commission to the Sèvres porcelain manufactory in mid-1776 through the Russian ambassador in Paris, comman...
About the Artist
Manufacture nationale de Sèvres · 1763–1800
The Manufacture nationale de Sèvres, a premier French porcelain factory, flourished from 1763 to 1800 as the royal powerhouse of European ceramics, producing opulent soft- and hard-paste porcelain under the patronage of Louis XV and XVI. Originally founded in Vincennes in 1740 to rival Meissen and Chantilly, it relocated to Sèvres in 1756 and was fully acquired by the Crown in 1759, becoming the M...