TWO RECTANGULAR PORCELAIN PLATES, BERLIN, SECOND HALF OF THE 19th CENTURY with polychrome decoration of bouquets of flowers in the centre and flowering branches and garlands in relief; on the side a cross of Saint Andrew and the order of Saint Andrew. Marked: sceptre in blue. (Wear to gilding.) TWO RECTANGULAR PORCELAIN DISHES, BERLIN, SECOND HALF OF 19TH CENTURY 40,50 x 32 CM - 15,9 x 12,6 IN. Provenance : According to oral tradition, a gift from Marie-Madeleine Alexandrovna Mordvinoff, descendant of Peter the Great, Tsar of Russia Private collection History The model of the service, which our two dishes reproduce and several pieces of which were replaced in the 19th century, was made by Johann Friedrich Eberlein (1695-1749) and decorated in relief with the "Gotzkowsky" pattern, was presented by King August III of Poland to Empress Elisabeth I of Russia on the occasion of the marriage of her nephew, Grand Duke Peter Feodorovich, to Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst, the future Empress Catherine II, on 21 August 1745. Made up of 440 pieces, according to an inventory drawn up on 5 November 1745, it was the most important diplomatic gift ever produced by the Meissen manufactory. The Order of Saint Andrew, founded in 1698 by Peter the Great, was the most important order in the Russian Empire. The cross depicted on this service is a simplified version of the insignia of the Order of St Andrew, which is normally applied to the black Romanoff double-headed eagle surmounted by a red imperial crown. The letters at either end of the cross S.A.P.R. stand for Sanctus Andreas Patronus Russiae. The service was placed in the sovereign's private flats from August to November 1745, then transferred to the Winter Palace at the end of 1745. Under Emperor Nicholas II, in 1911, it was placed in the Hermitage Museum under inventory number 1703. Then in the early 1930s, through the Antikvariat, a state organisation set up by the Soviet government, a large part of this service was put up for sale. Today, the Hermitage Museum still owns 145 pieces from this service.