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Florentine circles a deep hunter green ground with a gold border of griffins, winged dragons and Renaissance flora. Its maker, Wedgwood, made the Frog Service that Catherine the Great commissioned in 1773. Read its story.
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In 1774 Wedgwood completed the vast dinner and dessert service Catherine had asked for. Here the grandeur lives in the gold, a heraldic bestiary where medallions and acanthus scrolls wind among the beasts.
Florentine's mythical creatures and floral designs took their inspiration from medieval Italian potters. Wedgwood dressed it in this dark green from 1961, a ground that makes the gilding glow like a lamp in a palazzo.
Each footed cup curves up to a single loop handle, and black enamel banding sharpens the green. The heraldic border wraps the inside of the bowl as well as the outer band, while every saucer carries the full design. Inside the cup those griffins stay in view to the last drop of tea.
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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