Set of (4) Royal Copenhagen "The Four Seasons" Bisque Porcelain Plaques. Known as the "Four Seasons Wall Plaques" and based on reliefs by Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen, they depict allegorical scenes representing the four ages of man and the four seasons: Childhood (Spring), Youth (Summer), Middle Age (Autumn), and Old Age (Winter). Made of unglazed white bisque porcelain, from the original designs created in the 19th Century. 

Size: 7 1/4 x 7 1/4 in. 

Royal Copenhagen, officially the Royal Porcelain Factory, is a Danish manufacturer of porcelain products that was founded in Copenhagen in 1775 by decree of Danish Dowager Queen Juliane Marie, recognized by its factory mark of three wavy lines above each other, symbolizing Denmark’s three waterways: Storebælt, Lillebælt and Øresund. Europeans, long fascinated by the blue and white porcelain exported from China during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, began to imitate the precious ware in the early 17th Century. The Danish chemist Frantz Heinrich Müller was the first operator of the factory, given a 50-year monopoly to create porcelain, and the factory’s pattern No. 1, still in production, is “Musselmalet” (mussel-painted), known as “Blue Fluted” in English-speaking countries. The blue is cobalt, after a discovery in 1772 of a rich vein of cobalt in Norway, the junior part of the joint kingdom at that time. In 1868 all royal companies were privatized, although the Royal Porcelain Factory chose to keep the designation due to their international recognition by then, and in 1883 the company was bought by Aluminia, an earthenware company. Over the next hundred years they embraced modernist styles, and after multiple acquisitions the company ceased operations in Denmark, with their products now being produced in Thailand. 

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