An antique Russian Imperial porcelain plate from the Wedding Banquet service of Grand Duke Constantine (Konstantine) Nikolaevich (son of tsar Nicholas I) and German Princess Alexandra Iosifovna of Saxe-Altenburg. Made at the Imperial Porcelain Factory in St Petersburg in 1848.

The service was designed by Feodor Solntsev (1801-1892), – an architect, painter, professor of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Arts, archaeologist and an expert in Russian antiquities. Ten years earlier, Solntsev designed a ceremonial service for the Great Kremlin Palace. Similar to the Kremlin service, the Constantine Wedding service is designed in the Russo-Byzantine style. The ornamentation of the service derives from Russian medieval enamel motifs.

The wedding took place on September 11, 1848 in the Winter Palace in St Petersburg.

Diameter 9 1/2 in. (24 cm)

Condition: a professionally repaired rim chip and crack, intact painting, bold colors.

A historically important and attractive display piece

The border is painted with eleborate cartouches of scrolling interlaced foliage, the Russian Imperial Standard – a double headed eagle holding in its beaks and talons four maps, signifying Russian sovereignty over the Baltic, Black, Caspian and White seas, and a crowned monogram BKKH for Великий Князь Константин Николаевич (Grand Duke Konstantine Nikolaevich).

Blue factory mark in the form of Nicholas I cipher