This rare 18th century Russian Porcelain covered cup and saucer is from the era of Catherine the Great (r.1762-1796). Painted in the Marie Antoinette style with a flower basket held by a blue ribbon, with small floral clusters on white ground, bracket handle, the slightly domed cover surmounted by a fruit finial, the deep saucer of similar decoration.

By the Gardner Factory, circa 1770, with blue factory mark (crossed swords)

Provenance: Helene du Bouchet Lovell; Christie’s New York Fine Russian Works of Art, April 12, 1988, lot 116

Founded in 1766 in the village of Verbilki, the Gardner Factory was one of the first private porcelain factories in Russia. This cup represents an early example of Gardner production. The crossed swords mark preceded the initial G factory mark which was not used until the late 1770s. For a Gardner teapot of similar decoration see Russian Applied Art, the Russian Museum, Leningrad, Leningrad, 1976, pl. 87.