A Porcelain Imperial Armorial Plate China, circa 1770-1790s circular, the centre painted in sepia with the Imperial double-headed eagle holding a sceptre and orb, surmounted by the Imperial crown, with details of the crown, sceptre, orb and the chain painted in gold, the outer border with an openwork lattice design and fine gilt scrolling band, the inner border painted with an intertwining dark grape ribbon and a garland of stems, leaves and multicoloured flowers, apparently unmarked diameter: 25.7cm (10 1/8in). Footnotes: Provenance Galerie Popoff, Paris Christie's, London, Galerie Popoff: An Enduring Passion for Russian Art, 12-13 October 2009, lot 168 Acquired at the above by the previous owner Private collection, UK Thence by succession to the present owner Literature M. Baruch, Masterpieces of 18th century Russian porcelain from the Collection of the Popoff & Co Gallery, Moscow, 2009, illustrated pp. 316-317, no. 197 The present porcelain plate is executed in the famille rose palette with decorative motifs distinctive to the 18th-century European tastes. The geometric openwork around the border appeared in Chinese porcelain designs in the 1760s and quickly gained popularity among the European commissioners of the chine de commande. While the history behind the commission of this plate is unknown, it is likely to have been a part of larger services decorated with the Imperial coat of arms, ordered by the Russian court in the periods of 1770-1775 and 1785-1790. For a similar plate from the collection of G.A.H. Bausman in the Museum Geelvinck Hinlopen, Amsterdam, see J. Bausman, 'Commissioned Armorial Plates in the Netherlands and Russia,' in Pinakoteka, vol. 24-25, Moscow, 2007, p. 110. A soup plate with the same decoration may be found in the Hillwood Museum, Washington, see further M.C. Ross, Russian Porcelains, Washington D.C., 1968, p. 411, pl. 139. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com