These plates are some of the later Russian additions which were added to the original 18th century Meissen service which was given by Augustus II ‘the Strong’, Elector of Saxony and King Augustus III of Poland, to Empress Elizabeth of Russia (1709-1762) in 1745. Russia was an important ally to Saxony and Poland, and the service played an important part in maintaining good diplomatic relations between them. The highest Order of the Russian Empire, the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called (founded by Tsar Peter I in 1698) was used for the decoration of the service. The cross is a simplified version of the Order's badge; depicted without the black double headed eagle that usually accompanies it, and St. Andrew is also depicted without a halo. The letters at each end of the cross, S, A, P and R are an abbreviation of Sanctus Andreas Patronus Russiae. The service was made between 1744 and 1745, and it was sent to Russia in ten crates, where it was delivered in July 1745, just in time for it to be used at the wedding celebrations of Empress Elizabeth’s son Peter (later Tsar Peter III) and Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst (later Tsarina Catherine the Great) in August 1745 in St. Petersburg.

In the second half of the 18th century the service played an important role in ceremonial occasions. It was used for the ‘parade’ banquets of the Knights of the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky which took place annually on the Saint’s Day, 30th November. The service was not actually used in these banquets; it was set out for display, and silver was used for eating off instead. However, the service was actually used for banquets which celebrated the feast day of St. Andrew. This continued until 1803, when the feast day of the Order of St. Andrew was no longer celebrated at court.

In his 1885 inventory of the pieces of the service in the Winter Palace, Grigorovich noted that some of the salts had been made at the Imperial Porcelain Factory in St. Petersburg.(1) He also noted that 160 plates had ‘lace gold’ decoration (as is the case with the present lot), while the remaining 247 plates only had a plain gold rim (2). As Lydia Liackhova notes,(3) the number of Russian replacements made in the mid-19th century demonstrates that the service remained important and continued to be used in the 19th century, even after St. Andrew’s Day was no longer celebrated after 1803.

After the Revolution, three plates were given to museums and the remaining pieces, mostly 19th century Russian pieces, were sold. Today, there are 170 plates in the Hermitage, of which 34 are 18th century Meissen examples from the original delivery, and the others are Russian additions. In 2004, the Meissen für die Zaren exhibition held in Dresden exhibited 18th century Meissen elements from the service alongside later additions which were attributed to the Imperial Porcelain Factory and dated mid-19th century.(4) The exhibition catalogue notes that these Russian plates were marked with Meissen-style crossed swords marks.

For other plates from the service, similarly marked with Russian red wax inventory numbers, see Christie's, New York, 17/18 November 1999, lot 381; Christie's, London, 6 November 2008, lot 231; Christie's, London, 13 December 2001, lot 6531; Christie's, London, 29 November 2011, lot 35; and Christie's, New York, 7 June 2013, lot 368.

1. Winter Palace inventory, 1885, S. 60, see Lydia Liackhova, ‘Das Andreas-Service, Herstellung und Gestalt’, in Ulrich Pietsch et al., Meissen für die Zaren, Residenzschloss, Dresden, July-September 2004 Exhibition Catalogue, Munich, 2004, p. 68.
2. Lydia Liackhova, ibid., p. 68.
3. Lydia Liackhova, ibid., p. 68.
4. See Ulrich Pietsch et al., Meissen für die Zaren, 2004, pp. 76-77, Kat.-Nr. 94, and p. 79, Kat.-Nr. 105.