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COUNTRYSMART • NOTERTAT
Flora Danica - A Royal Treasure
When you hold a piece of Flora Danica you hold a small piece of Danish history. Every piece of Flora Danica tells a tale of royalty, nature and exquisite craftsmanship. Origi- nally revealed in 1803, Flora Danica is, to this day, one of the worlds largest collections from the golden age of porcelain.
The Flora Danica collection gets both its name and decorations from the old botanical work ”Flora Danica”, in which minutely de- tailed copperplates were created to depict the flora of Denmark. The first collection of illustrations were published in 1761 but the full body of work was finalized 122 years later in 1883.
It is said that the Flora Danica dinner ser- vice was commissioned in 1790 by Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark on behalf of King Christian VII as a gift for Catherine the
Great, Empress of Russia. Unfortunately the Empress passed away before the she could be presented with this extraordinary gift and in 1802 the Royal Palace decided that pro- duction of the dinner service should come to end. At the time it consisted of 1802 pieces, which were all delivered to the palace.
On January 29th 1803, the Flora Danica din- ner service was put to use for the very first time. The occasion was King Christian VII’s birthday and the table was set for 24 dis- tinguished guests. Since then, the collection has been scarcely used and although a few pieces have shattered on each occasion, approximately 1530 pieces from the original dinner service remains in existence today.
The production of Flora Danica was resumed in 1863 when Princess Alexandra of Den- mark was gifted a collection of 765 pieces
on the occasion of her wedding to the Prince of Wales. Since then Flora Danica has been painted at the Danish porcelain factory with very few changes to the production process.
All pieces are entirely decorated by hand. From the modelling of the intricate florals that adorn the lids and handles of pieces like the tea pots, terrines, and fruit baskets, to the hand-painting of the naturalistic illustra- tions from the Flora Danica encyclopaedia. Each piece of Flora Danica porcelain is com- pletely unique and carries the initials of both the painter and gilder responsible for the de- corations.
Today, porcelain aficionados around the world have more than 3000 floral, plant and funghi motifs to choose from when placing a Flora Danica order – making it possible to curate a uniquely personal collection.
www.floradanica.royalcopenhagen.com
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