CUP AND SAUCER FOR GRAND DUKE PAUL, TSAR PAUL I. OF RUSSIA Berlin, Royal Porcelain Manufactory, ca. 1800 With opulent, polychrome paintwork accentuated with gold. Featuring the crowned double-headed Eagle of the Russian Empire and the Alliance coat of arms of Romanov and Holstein-Gottorp, with the chain of Order of Saint Andrew the Apostle the First-Called with the attached St. Andrew's cross, the letters S A P K (instead of R), S (sanctus) A (ndrae) P (atronus) R (ussiae). To the right around the Russian shield, on a purple band, the insignia of the Order of Alexander Nevsky. Around the Holstein-Gottorp coat of arms, a purple band with yellow trim and the insignia of the Order of St. Anne. Underglaze-blue scepter mark. H 5 cm. Ø 13.2 cm. Provenance: - Christie's London, October 2, 1979, lot 104. - Family estate, Basel, acquired at the above auction. The cup with the extremely opulently decorated coat of arms is part of a service for Grand Duke Paul of Russia (1754–1801, son of Tsarina Catherine II, and from 1796, Tsar Paul I). Various commissions for the Russian royal family, as a result of their visits to the Prussian capital Berlin, arrived in St. Petersburg in the 1770s. Among them was an extensive service decorated with coats of arms, also with Russian Alliance coats of arms, of a plainer design, made in 1778, parts of which are now in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, in Pavlovsk and in Charlottenburg Palace (see Peters, Keramos 1979/86, pp. 66 and 67, fig. 3). Further literature: Köllmann/Jarchow, Berliner Porzellan, vol. II, fig. 404.; cat. Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg, Lessmann, figs. 149-151; Roland Peters, Seltene Berliner Wappenporzellane des 18. Jahrhunderts, Keramos 1979/86, pp. 66 and 67, fig.3 and note 14.