Royal Copenhagen

Why it is renowned

Royal Copenhagen showed its porcelain at the Great Exhibition in London in 1851 and won the Grand Prix at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1889.¹ Its Flora Danica service began in 1790 as a commission from King Christian VII, meant as a gift for Catherine the Great, and is still painted by hand.¹ Blue Fluted, its pattern No. 1, has been made since the factory opened, and its Christmas plates have appeared every year since 1908.¹²

The story

The chemist Frantz Heinrich Müller founded the factory in a former post office in Copenhagen in 1775, under the protection of Dowager Queen Juliane Marie; when King Christian VII took over its finances in 1779 it became the Royal Porcelain Factory.¹ The architect Arnold Krog, artistic director from 1884, made Blue Fluted Full Lace a whole dinner service and added the simpler Half Lace.¹² The three wavy lines of its mark stand for the Danish waters Storebælt, Lillebælt and Øresund.¹ Its flagship shop has stood at Amagertorv 6, in a building from 1616, since 1911.² Most of its porcelain is now made in Thailand, while Flora Danica is still designed and painted in Denmark, where the design centre sits.¹

What to know it by

• Blue Fluted Plain1775Pattern No. 1, painted in cobalt blue
• Flora Danica1790Botanical service with gilded edges
• Blue Fluted Full Lace1885Blue Fluted with a lace border
• Blue Fluted Mega2000Karen Kjælgaard LarsenBlue Fluted with enlarged details
• Christmas plates1908A new plate every year