Plate from the Catherine the Great Service

This striking plate is part of a dinner service commissioned by the Russian Empress Catherine II, called Catherine the Great (r. 1761–96). The complete set of eight hundred pieces included sixty place settings, tea and coffee services, a centerpiece with figures representing the Arts and Sciences in biscuit (unglazed porcelain), and numerous architectural elements. The empress gave the commission to the Sèvres porcelain manufactory in mid-1776 through the Russian ambassador in Paris, commanding that it be “in the best and newest style”—what we call Neoclassicism.

The plate is marked with the monogram E II (for Ekaterina, the Russian form of Catherine; she was the second queen by this name), surmounted by the Russian imperial crown and encircled by branches of laurel, sacred to Apollo, the Greco-Roman god of the arts, and myrtle, sacred to Venus, the goddess of love. The plates were further enriched by a turquoise ground that imitated the semi-precious stone, and rimmed with representations of Classical cameos, which Catherine collected. Profile heads alternate with scenes from ancient Roman history: King Numa Pompilius presenting laws to the Roman people; the soldier Mucius Scevola burning his own hand to show his contempt for the Etruscan conqueror, Porsenna; and the general Popilius Laenas confronting the Syrian king Antiochus.