EXCEEDINGLY RARE Porcelain Cup and Saucer with the Monogram of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna (wife of Nicholas II). Created for the Empress’s Personal Use.
Apparently a birthday gift, made for the Empress at the Imperial Porcelain Factory in 1908. The only other known cup and saucer of this design is in the collection of the State Russian museum in St Petersburg. That set is dated 1907 and published in “The State Porcelain Factory 1904-1944” by T. Nosovich and I. Popova, St Petersburg-Moscow, 2005, page 55. According to the book, the set was a gift for Alexandra Feodorovna’s birthday on May 25th. The museum’s cup is lacking the lid. The cup and saucer offered here have the regular green factory marks dated 1907, but they are overpainted with gold marks dated 1908. The quantity of sets made is unknown with perhaps just a few created. It is likely that the decoration of the sets began in 1907 and continued through 1908; alternately, marked blank porcelain from the previous year may have been used.
A closely related cup & saucer with a profile bust of Nicholas II (made for the Emperor’s 40th birthday on May 6th, 1908 and currently in the collection of the Russian museum) is illustrated in the exhibition catalog entitled “Russian Odyssey”.
Both the shape and the decoration of the cup and saucer are in the 18th century taste.
The Saucer
Diameter 5 1/8 in. (13 cm).
MINT CONDITION
The center is painted with a cupid and eagle on clouds, holding a pink shield with crowned monogram Cyrillic ‘AF’, within a large yellow and green gold finely tooled cartouche in Louis XV style surmounted with the Russian Imperial crown.
Traces of green 1907 mark are still visible. Gold factory marks are extremely rare. Only pieces intended for empress’s personal use are bearing such marks.
The Cup
Height with lid 3 1/4 in. (8,2 cm)
The cup is painted with a cupid and a horn of plenty at the sides of the monogrammed shield.
Condition: NEAR MINT. Very minor rubbing to gilt at foot rim of the cup and at the flat rim of the lid, where it touches the cup’s rim.
