GRAND PLAT ARMORIE EN PORCELAINE DE LA FAMILLE ROSE

A pair of dishes from the same service were sold at Christie's New York, 25 January 2011, lot 56, and a pair from the collection of The Benjamin F. Edwards III sold at Christie's New York, 22 January 2003, lot 154.

The current lot belongs to an important service ordered by Christian Auguste and Johanna Elizabeth, Prince and Princess of Anhalt, who were the parents of Catherine the Great. Because direct trade between the princely states of Germany and China was rare, the known German armorial services were all made for princely families: Hohenzollern, Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenberg-Schwerin.