Organization: Imperial Porcelain Factory, St Petersburg
Origin: Russia, St Petersburg
Date: late 18th century
Complex: Hunting Service; addition to the main set (Meissen Porcelain Manufactory, 1765–1768)
Material: porcelain
Technique: polychrome overglaze painting, gilding
Dimensions: 3.5 × 23.4 cm
Current Collection: The State Hermitage Museum
Inventory Number: ERF-8942
Hermitage ID: 931437
Rudanovsky Connection: Entered the Hermitage in 1919 from the collection of A. K. Rudanovsky.
A flat plate of the late eighteenth century, made at the Imperial Porcelain Factory as an addition to the Meissen «Hunting Service».
Flat Plate. The State Hermitage Museum.
The plate entered the Hermitage in 1919, transferred through the Branch for the Protection of Monuments of Art and Antiquities and previously in the collection of A. K. Rudanovsky. It is not currently on permanent display.
It is a flat plate — 23.4 centimetres across — with a green border and a painted huntsman on a white horse.
The Object
The plate is round, with a scalloped rim and a shallow well.
Its border is green, painted with a diaper pattern and framed by gold scrolls and small flowers. In the centre, a gold cartouche frames a scene: a huntsman on a white horse, with two hounds.
The palette is soft: greens, browns, whites and gold.
The Rider
The huntsman sits on a white horse.
He wears a green coat and a black hat, and he holds the reins and a whip. His horse stands still, its head turned, and its whiteness makes it the plate’s brightest element.
The rider is a gentleman of leisure: his dress and his horse belong to the world of the eighteenth-century nobility.
The Hounds
Two hounds run beside the horse.
They are white with dark spots, and they are painted in motion: their legs are stretched, their heads low. They give the scene its energy, and they explain the hunt.
Hounds are a common element in hunting scenes, and they add a note of movement and excitement.
The Landscape
The landscape is soft and rolling.
A large tree rises behind the rider, and a distant hill closes the horizon. The ground is grassy, with rocks and bushes.
Landscapes of this kind are a convention of hunting scenes: they provide a setting without distracting from the action.
The Cartouche
The cartouche is a gold frame.
It is painted with scrolls and leaves, and it surrounds the rider like a window. Its shape is irregular, and it follows the landscape.
Cartouches of this kind are a feature of the service: they frame each scene and separate it from the white ground.
The Border
The border is green.
It is painted with a diaper pattern of small stars, and it is edged with gold scrolls and flower sprays. Its colour contrasts with the white ground and the green coat.
The border is one of the signs of the service, and it unites its many pieces.
The Imperial Addition
The plate is an addition to the service.
It was made at the Imperial Porcelain Factory in St Petersburg in the late eighteenth century, and it was designed to match the Meissen pieces made in 1765–1768. Its border and its scenes copy the German model.
The plate shows how a service could grow: new pieces were added as the set was used, and the decoration was continued across factories.
The Meissen Service
The «Hunting Service» was originally made at Meissen.
The service was one of the most ambitious of the eighteenth century, and it was decorated with hunting scenes after paintings and prints. It was made for the Russian court.
The Russian additions continued the service, and they show the prestige of the Meissen model.
The Tree
A large tree rises behind the rider.
It is painted in soft greens, with a dark trunk, and its branches spread across the sky. It frames the scene, and it gives the plate its vertical line.
Trees of this kind are a convention of landscape painting: they frame the view and give it depth.
The Horse’s Tack
The horse wears a bridle and a saddle.
They are painted in red and gold, and they are visible under the rider. The tack gives the horse its function, and it adds a note of colour to the white body.
Details of this kind are what make a painted animal convincing, and the painter does not neglect them.
The Ground
The ground is rough and grassy.
It is painted in greens and browns, with rocks and bushes, and it gives the horse its footing. A path runs across it, and a stream or a ditch separates the rider from the foreground.
The ground is the scene’s stage: it gives the figures a place to move, and it suggests the countryside.
The Gold
The gold is applied in scrolls and lines.
It edges the border, frames the cartouche and covers the small rococo ornaments. It was applied over the glaze, fired and burnished.
The gold gives the plate its richness, and it frames the rider.
The Table
The plate was made for a table.
It was a dinner plate, and it stood at the place of a guest at a grand dinner. Its hunting scene would have been admired between courses.
That table is gone, but the plate still carries its function: a surface for food, and a picture for the interval.
The White Horse
The white horse is the plate’s brightest element.
It is painted in pale greys and whites, with dark trappings, and it stands in the middle of the cartouche. Its whiteness makes it stand out against the green landscape.
Horses were a favourite subject of porcelain painters, and the white horse is one of the plate’s finest details.
The Rim
The rim of the plate is scalloped.
It is cut into a series of small waves, and it is edged with gold. The scallops follow the border, and they give the plate its elegant outline.
Scalloped rims are a feature of eighteenth-century services, and they frame the decoration.
The Sky
The sky is pale and soft.
It is painted in light greys and blues, with a few clouds, and it fills the upper part of the cartouche. It gives the scene its light and its air.
The Two Hounds
Two hounds run beside the horse.
They are painted in motion, their bodies stretched, and their white coats are marked with dark spots. They are the hunt’s engine, and their movement gives the scene its energy.
Hounds of this kind are a common element in hunting scenes, and they add a note of speed and excitement.
Provenance
The plate carries the inventory number ERF-8942. It entered the Hermitage in 1919, transferred through the Branch for the Protection of Monuments of Art and Antiquities and previously in the collection of A. K. Rudanovsky.
In the Hermitage
The plate is preserved in the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg and is not on permanent display.
It is a fine example of Russian porcelain, and it preserves a hunting scene: a rider, a white horse and two hounds, painted two centuries ago.
It is a plate, and it is also a small hunt, and its white horse is still standing under its tree. And the hounds are still running.
