Object Description
Set of Twelve Royal Copenhagen Flora Danica Porcelain Dinner Plates By Royal Copenhagen (Danish, founded 1775)
Height 4cm, diameter 25cm
This striking set of twelve Flora Danica dinner plates features unique hand-painted botanical specimens within finely pierced and gilded borders.
This delightful set comprises twelve hard-paste porcelain dinner plates decorated in the celebrated Flora Danica pattern, each individually hand-painted with a different botanical specimen after the renowned 18th-century Danish botanical atlas. Every plate presents a unique flowering plant rendered with extraordinary naturalistic precision, depicting not only the blossom but also the foliage and root structure in the scientific tradition from which the service takes its enduring inspiration. The decoration is framed by an exquisitely pierced and gilded basketweave border enriched with delicate pink and gilt banding, a defining hallmark of this iconic pattern.
The Flora Danica service traces its origins to 1790, when the Danish Royal Manufactory was commissioned to produce a service of breathtaking ambition, each piece painted with a different specimen drawn directly from the great 18th-century Danish botanical encyclopaedia of the same name. Intended as a diplomatic gift for Empress Catherine the Great of Russia, the project instead became one of Denmark’s most treasured artistic achievements following the Empress’s death before its completion. The tradition of hand-painting each piece individually, with every plant carefully identified in Latin on the reverse, has been maintained without interruption to the present day, making each plate a singular botanical record as well as a work of decorative art.
Each plate bears the Royal Copenhagen factory marks on the reverse, including the green crowned circular stamp, the three characteristic blue wavy lines — the manufactory’s emblem since its founding in 1775, symbolising the waterways surrounding Denmark — together with the model number and individual painter’s marks.