FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE A set of 11 plates made at The Imperial Porcelain Factory in St Petersburg in 1872 have been sold at Lawrences of Crewkerne, Somerset, United Kingdom for £165,000.
News-Antique.com - Nov 30,-0001 - A set of 11 plates made at The Imperial Porcelain Factory in St Petersburg in 1872 have been sold at Lawrences of Crewkerne, Somerset, United Kingdom for £165,000. Each 9 3/4in (24.5cm) diameter plate featured an individual military scene painted in enamels. The rims were lilac decorated with gilt laurel swags, flanking medallions containing black Imperial eagles. The plates were marked with a blue and green cipher and variously dated between 1872 and 1875.
The plates were in the Gatchina Palace in the mid 19th century and were acquired by the vendor’s family in the 1920s when many Russian art treasures were sold following the Revolution. The Gatchina Palace was turned into a museum and opened to the public in May 1918.
There was much pre-sale interest in the plates and they were bought eventually by a buyer with Russian interests from New York. The market for Russian items has risen sharply over recent years. A plate from the same service was offered for sale at Sotheby’s in New York on December 1, 1998 but failed to sell at an estimate of $6,000-8,000. On May 23, 2002 at Sotheby’s Olympia (London), a more desirable example marked for 1830, signed Shchetinin, sold for £19,000 against an estimate of £7,000-9,000.
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