A rare porcelain dinner plate from The Tsar Nicholas Service, Coalport Factory, England, circa 1849. The plate with gilt scalloped rim, the center painted with the badge of the Order of Saint Andrew on white ground, the blue border decorated with the badges of the Orders of Saint George, Saint Alexander Nevsky, Saint Vladimir, the White Eagle, Saint Stanislaus & Saint Anne within gilt shaped cartouches against a cream ground, gilded foot. The reverse with retailer’s mark of A.B. and R.P. Daniell, 129 New Bond Street and 18 Wigmore Street, with Royal Patent. Diameter: 10 in. (25.3 cm).

In 1845 the Messrs. Daniell received the command of Queen Victoria to prepare a dessert service as a present by herself to the Emperor Nicholas, and it was manufactured at the works. It was a magnificent service of “bleu de roi”, and had the various badges of the Russian Imperial orders that Queen commissioned from Coalport after Emperor Nicholas I’s state visit to England in 1844. Intended as a souvenir of their meeting, the full service for 60 people was delivered to St. Petersburg in 1845. The magnificent dessert service so impressed him that he ordered additions to it for use at court banquets.