A Russian porcelain dinner plate from the Alexandrinsky Turquoise Service, Imperial Porcelain Factory, Saint Petersburg, 1899.The turquoise blue ground border relieved with cartouches painted with scenes of birds, including swans & ducks, the ground with gilt oak leaf garlands. The reverse with the green cypher mark of Nicholas II dated 1899. Diameter: 9 7/8 in. (24.7 cm).

The Alexandrinsky (or Alexandrinskii) Turquoise Service was commissioned by Empress Alexandra Feodorovna in 1899 for use in the Winter Palace. The service, which came to be called in honor of the Empress, comprised almost 1,300 pieces & was based on an original service by Sèvres in the palace stores. On this service, see N.B. von Wolf (ed. T.N. Nosovich), Imperatorskii farforovyi zavod, 1744-1904, St. Petersburg, 2003, pp. 314-316 & Anne Odom, Russian Porcelain at Hillwood,Washington, DC, 1999, pp. 98-101. For the original French service with ornithological miniatures made at Sèvres between 1783 & 1784, see Tamara Kudriavtseva, Russian Imperial Porcelain,St. Petersburg, 2003, p. 208.