A PORCELAIN DINNER PLATE FROM THE RAPHAEL SERVICE

Commissioned in 1893 for the palace at Tsarkoe Selo, the Raphael Service was the largest and most important service produced by the Imperial Porcelain Factory. In his book Baron von Wolf makes numerous references to the service, emphasising its artistic and technical qualities. The designs were conceived from Raphael's frescoes in the loggias of the Vatican, which were subsequently reproduced in the Winter Palace by Quarenghi during the reign of Catherine the Great.
For plates from the same service see G. Agarkova and N. Petrovna, 250 Years of Lomonosov Porcelain Manufacture in St Petersburg, 1774-1994, Disentis, 1994, pp. 21, 59, 61, and 79. For further examples from this service, also see B. von Wolf (ed. V.V. Znamenov), Imperatorskii Farforovyi Zavod, 1744-1904, St Petersburg, 2008, pp. 630-633.