A Russian Porcelain Serving Plate and a Soup Plate from the Cabinet Service, Imperial Porcelain Manufactory, St. Petersburg, Period of Paul I (1796-1801)

the center of the Serving Plate painted with a view of St. Peter's and the Vatican in Rome within a gilded reserve, the border with a chain of purple and blue field flowers against a gilded ground, the outer border with a pierced basketweave contained within ribbon-tied reeded borders; the Soup Plate with a view of a village near Castello nuovo, the scalloped border with a similar chain of blue and purple flowers against a gilded ground.

Sotheby's London, December 15, 1995, lot 405, illustrated

the Serving Plate with areas of loss to floral border and with some minor rubbing to gilding throughout; the Soup Plate with some minor losses to gilding on outer border
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

The so-called Cabinet Service was the largest and one of the most important of the grand services produced at the Imperial Porcelain Manufactory in the last quarter of the eighteenth century. Comprising over 900 items, the service included the pieces necessary for serving dinner, dessert, and tea. Empress Catherine II commissioned it in 1793 as a presentation gift for her Chief Minister, Count Alexander Andreevich Bezborodko (1747-1799). It was paid for by the Cabinet, which is probably the explanation for its better-known name. The service was produced during the period referred to as 'severe Classicism' in Russia. Each piece is decorated with bands of field flowers and centered with Italianate scenes copied from grand illustrated sources such as Della Magnificenze di Roma antika e moderna. Da Giuseppe Vasi da Corleone (Rome, 1764) and Antichita Romane opera di Giambatista Piranesi (Rome, 1756). According to Boris N. Emme, a distinguished curator of the decorative arts at the State Russian Museum, the Empress used the service to continue a tradition inaugurated by Peter I in which the Sovereign would test the knowledge of young aristocratic men who had recently completed a course of study. As Emme described it, "the depictions on the service of specific historical monuments provided themes for the directions of table conversation, during which the level of knowledge of the guests being tested was made clear." Should the young noblemen have been particularly stumped, they would find the locations of the Italian scenes identified on the bottom of each piece. On the Cabinet Service, see N.B. von Wolf (ed. T.N. Nosovich), Imperatorskii farforovyi zavod, 1744-1904, St. Petersburg, 2003, pp.83-84 and 88-89; T. Kudriavtseva, Russian Imperial Porcelain, St. Petersburg, 2003, pp. 65-67; and, Pod tsarskim venzelem, St. Petersburg, 2007, pp. 86-91.