RARE Wedgwood Armorial Plate TSAR RUSSIA Gatchina Palace
A superb and rare Wedgwood plate, with the Romanov Russian eagle, made for the Russian Imperial Court.
Measures approx 10 inches across. Section carefully reglued/restored. Circa 1817.
Probably made for Tsar Alexander I (reign 1801-1825) the Gatchina Palace.
Catherine the Great of Russia famously ordered her "frog" service from Wedgwood in 1773-4, for her new country palace built at Kekerekeksinen, or ‘The Frog marsh’. Every plate had a scene from Britain in the centre and a green frog within a shield at the top. It is now in the State Hermitage Museum.
Josiah Wedgwood was a man of his time. He was well connected and had an eye for design and innovation.
He invented ceramic bodies that were revolutionary. "Basalt Ware" a black bodied ceramic that imitated ancient Greek and Roman pottery, "Jasperware" a hard stoneware that was coloured and had white motifs or figures applied in white relief in the neo-classical style. "Queen's ware" a cream coloured earthenware that withstood heat and cold and had an attractive white glaze. So named in honour of Queen Charlotte who took order of the wares in 1765. It was popular with nobility but was so durable and well priced that every inn across Europe and Russia was using it.
Photo of Gatchina Palace
Alex 'Florstein' Fedorov [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) or FAL]