Lot number 45 - Auction 161
FEINER TELLER AUS DEM RAFFAEL-SERVICE

A FINE PORCELAIN PLATE FROM THE RAPHAEL SERVICE Russian, St. Petersburg, Imperial Porcelain Factory, Period of Nicholas II, 1897 Painted, gilded. A large overglaze red and gold factory mark 'NII 1897' under the crown. The Raphael Service was the last great imperial dinner service produced by the Imperial Porcelain Factory. Commissioned in 1883 by Emperor Alexander III to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Raphael's birth, it was originally intended for the palace at Tsarskoye Selo. Designed by Leonard Leonardovich Schaufelberger, it was based on motifs from the Raphael Loggias in the Vatican, copies of which also adorn the loggias of the Hermitage. Alexander III personally approved the initial designs for the service, which took over 20 years to produce and was not completed until 1903. Diam. 24 cm. Provenance: Sotheby's London, Sale of 26th November 2008, lot 239.