Rare set of 6 plates belonging to Grand Duke Mikhail Mikhailovich, Russian Empire, 19th century.

Rare set of 6 plates belonging to Grand Duke Mikhail Mikhailovich, Russian Empire, 19th century. Magnificent plates with the monogram of Grand Duke Mikhail Mikhailovich. Made at the enterprise of M. S. Kuznetsov in Verbliki. Russian Empire, 1891-99. Grand Duke Mikhail Mikhailovich (1861-1929), the second son of Mikhail Nikolayevich and Olga Feodorovna, grandson of Emperor Nicholas I. In 1891 he married Sofya Nikolaevna abroad, the eldest daughter of Prince Nicholas Wilhelm of Nassau and Countess Natalia von Merenberg (Pushkin's daughter). This marriage was painfully received by Emperor Alexander III. He fell out of favor with the emperor, was dismissed from military service, he was forbidden to enter Russia, his monogram was depicted without the imperial crown. In 1901, Emperor Nicholas II, by the Highest Decree of August 17, 1901, the marriage was recognized as legal. Mikhail was left with the rights of a private person with the retention of the title, but without the privileges of a member of the imperial house. The M. S. Kuznetsov Association for the Production of Porcelain and Faience Products is one of the largest porcelain and faience production facilities in the Russian Empire at the end of the 19th century - the beginning of the 20th century. It was founded on September 29, 1887 by a Russian industrialist and entrepreneur from the Kuznetsov family, Matvey Sidorovich Kuznetsov, and existed until 1917, when most of the enterprises were nationalized.