The Königliche Porzellan-Manufaktur (KPM) was the Royal Porcelain Manufactory of Berlin, founded in 1763 when King Frederick II of Prussia (1712-1786) took over the firm from a Berlin businessman. Until the abdication of Emperor William II in 1918, KPM was owned by seven kings and emperors and produced a wide range of high quality porcelain.
This set is decorated with views of Berlin after paintings by the German artist Carl Daniel Freydanck (1811-1887), following the boom of the Industrial Revolution. The choice and style of the painted ornament demonstrates the fashion forVedute, a genre of landscape scenes characterised by detailed, accurate and recognisable city landmarks. Vedute scenes responded to an idea of nationalistic pride and to desire for factual and accurate depictions of urban architecture. The tray depicts the “Königliche Schloss” (Royal Palace), later known as the Berlin Palace and currently under reconstruction, and the “Palais des Königs” (Palace of the King), also known as the Kaiser Wilhelm Palace and later the Old Palace. Other buildings include the “Zeughaus” (Old Arsenal), “Neue Kirche” (New Church), “Opernhaus” (Opera House) and the “Neue Borse” (New Stock Exchange) which would later be destroyed in the Second World War.
