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Lot 357 This service, decorated with a variety of wild and domesticated animals, is often referred to as the 'Rainbow Service' owing to its vivid colour palette. Thought to possibly have been commissioned originally for an Imperial hunting lodge, the specific details of the service's creation are unknown. However, when Duke Georg of Mecklenburg sold a large part of the service in 1952, he recounted in a signed affidavit that Nicholas I gave the service to his brother, Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich circa 1835 (A. Odom, Russian Porcelain at Hillwood, Washington, D.C., 1999, pp. 8, 72-73).
Since porcelain was an important element of dowries, it is possible that that this service was purposely expanded for the dowry of the Grand Duchess Ekaterina Mikhailovna, Grand Duke Mikhail's daughter, who brought it with her to the chateau of Remplin in Mecklenburg in 1850 or 1851 (A. Odom, op. cit., p. 73). Her marriage to Duke Georg of Mecklenburg-Stretlitz in 1851 suggests the relocation of the entire service from Russia to Germany and might explain its absence from Russian state museum collections today.
Since porcelain was an important element of dowries, it is possible that that this service was purposely expanded for the dowry of the Grand Duchess Ekaterina Mikhailovna, Grand Duke Mikhail's daughter, who brought it with her to the chateau of Remplin in Mecklenburg in 1850 or 1851 (A. Odom, op. cit., p. 73). Her marriage to Duke Georg of Mecklenburg-Stretlitz in 1851 suggests the relocation of the entire service from Russia to Germany and might explain its absence from Russian state museum collections today.
A GROUP OF PORCELAIN PLATES FROM THE SERVICE OF GRAND DUKE MIKHAIL PAVLOVICH
BY THE IMPERIAL PORCELAIN FACTORY, ST PETERSBURG, PERIOD OF NICHOLAS I
Closed28 November 2011
Price Realised
GBP 10,000