Flowers of ClassicismSpecial presentation on the occasion of the new acquisition of a dinner service by King Frederick William II.

The Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation Berlin-Brandenburg (SPSG) invites you to “dine” in the Marble House in the New Garden and presents a newly acquired dinner service from the Königliche Porzellan-Manufaktur Berlin (Royal Porcelain Manufactury, KPM) at a laid table!

In summer 2022, the SPSG was able to acquire 37 pieces of a service that KPM produced for Frederick William II from 1795. It was used in the Berlin Palace and, as the considerable number of later additions and replacements shows, was still very popular at court in the late 19th century.

In the Marble House, the early classicist summer palace of Frederick William II (1744-1797) on the shores of the Heiliger See, visitors can look forward to a lunch table set according to contemporary models, where they can marvel at a large number of the new acquisitions as if they were guests of the king himself. Other porcelain artefacts from the time of Frederick William II provide information about the fascinating history of the service's creation and use. Among other things, visitors can find out what the service has to do with the military conflicts between Prussia and revolutionary France, which were officially ended by the Peace of Basel in 1795.

The eye-catching floral decoration of the service, which is still considered one of the highlights of KPM's flower painting today under the name “fleurs en terrasse”, also represented a veritable revolution in taste. For the first time, artificial bouquets or scattered flowers were no longer depicted, as had previously been customary on Berlin porcelain, but flowers growing naturally from a meadow. The service thus marked an impressive transition from Rococo to the simple elegance of Classicism. In the Marble House, visitors can learn more about the creation of the special floral decoration in the early 1790s – including, for example, how Frederick William II's wife Friederike Luise of Hesse-Darmstadt (1751-1805) popularised the "fleurs en terrasse".

With its charming flower painting, the service conjured up coveted ornamental flowers of the time, including auriculas, ranunculus, carnations and anemones, as well as sentimental varieties such as forget-me-nots and pansies (French “pensée”, the thought) from the garden to the table, so to speak. In order to re-establish this direct link to the historical garden world, information plinths with flower pots will be set up at three locations in the New Garden, which the Foundation's gardeners have planted with the corresponding flower varieties from the table service.

The exhibition texts are in German and English. Please note that guided tours of the Marble House are only available in German.