Royal Copenhagen’s Flora Danica pattern is one of the most ornate dinner services to ever be produced. The original Flora Danica pattern was produced more than 200 years ago. The pattern is still made today and Royal Copenhagen employs the same hand painting method that was used at the time of the pattern’s inception. Each piece features a botanical design that is painstakingly hand painted. Every fluted edge and piercing that appears on the Flora Danica design is placed there by hand. The Flora Danica design appears in distinctive houses throughout the world.

The original Flora Danica dinner service was commissioned by King Christian VII of Denmark. The king ordered a set of china to be made that featured many of the botanical designs that appeared in a Danish book, entitled Flora Danica. Intended as a gift to Catherine the Great of Russia, the dinner service took more than three years to produce. The first set of Flora Danica consisted of 1,500 pieces and is still being used by the Danish Royal Family.

A second set of the dinnerware was ordered in 1863. This second order was used as the wedding reception china for Princess Alexandra’s marriage to King Edward VII. Since that time, Royal Copenhagen has continually produced the Flora Danica pattern. Most recently, the Danish People gave a service of Flora Danica to Crown Prince Frederik and Mary Donaldson when they wed on May 14th, 2004. This Flora Danica service bears the couple’s insignia as designed by the Crown Prince’s mother, Queen Margrethe II.

Each decoration on the Flora Danica service is applied by hand. Skilled painters mimic the images that appear in the Flora Danica book. All ornamentation on the pieces is modeled by exhaustively trained sculptors. Many of Flora Danica’s pieces feature a basket like appearance with pierced or woven rims. Each cut that is applied to the design is placed there by hand. If you are interested in learning more about the history of Royal Copenhagen, then please click here. Click here to view inventory in the Flora Danica pattern.

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