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The Florentine Dark Green pattern borders deep hunter green with gilded griffins, winged dragons and Renaissance flora. In 1773 and 1774, Wedgwood made Catherine the Great's celebrated Frog Service for Russia. Read its story.
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Her Frog Service stretched across both dinner and dessert, an undertaking vast in scope. This Florentine Dark Green platter is Renaissance-inspired, its gilded bestiary in the spirit of that age's decorative arts.
Acanthus scrollwork and geometric chain borders join the creatures, and black enamel banding gives the heraldic gold crisp contrast. On a platter of this scale the whole design unfolds at once.
Around the oval the creatures move in procession, like figures stepped down from a palazzo fresco. Against that ground they seem to glow, and whether beneath a holiday roast or at a formal dinner, each griffin keeps its watch over the table.
Wedgwood was born of one man's ambition. In 1759 Josiah Wedgwood opened his works in Burslem, in the heart of Staffordshire. He soon bought a great estate and renamed it Etruria, making it both his home and his factory, the place where English earthenware would be raised into an art.
Royalty soon took notice. After Wedgwood supplied Queen Charlotte, she gave permission to call its cream-colored ware Queen's Ware. Catherine the Great commissioned the Frog Service. The storied English house went on to create Jasperware in the spirit of ancient cameo glass.
That royal favor carried into modern times. In 1995 Queen Elizabeth II granted Wedgwood a Royal Warrant. At Barlaston, the World of Wedgwood is home to the house's treasures, in the collection of the V&A. Its wares now grace homes around the world, chosen by collectors with an eye for enduring craft. They know each piece bears a name once trusted by an empress and a queen.
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