A rare set of plates from the collection of Grand Duke Mikhail Mikhailovich

A rare set of 6 plates from the collection of Grand Duke Mikhail Mikhailovich, Russian Empire, 19th century. Magnificent plates with the monogram of Grand Duke Mikhail Mikhailovich. Made at the M. S. Kuznetsov factory in the village of Verbilki. Russian Empire, 1891-1899. Grand Duke Mikhail Mikhailovich (1861-1929), the second son of Mikhail Nikolaevich and Olga Feodorovna, grandson of Emperor Nicholas I. In 1891, he married Sophie Nikolaevna abroad, the eldest daughter of Prince Nikolaus Wilhelm of Nassau and Countess Natalia von Merenberg (daughter of Pushkin). This marriage was painfully received by Emperor Alexander III. He fell out of favor with the emperor, was dismissed from military service, forbidden to return to Russia, and his monogram was depicted without the imperial crown. In 1901, Emperor Nicholas II, by the Highest Decree of August 17, 1901, recognized the marriage as legal. Mikhail was left with the rights of a private individual while retaining his title, but without the privileges of a member of the imperial family. The M. S. Kuznetsov Association for the production of porcelain and faience products was one of the largest enterprises for the production of porcelain and faience in the Russian Empire at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. It was founded on September 29, 1887, by the Russian entrepreneur and industrialist from the Kuznetsov family, Matvey Sidorovich Kuznetsov, and existed until 1917, when most of the enterprises were nationalized.