A covered Russian porcelain ice cup from the service for the Order of St George, Gardner, 1777-1778. The cup’s form based on those of the Berlin Service (given to Catherine II by Frederick the Great in 1772), the bowl painted with the orange and blackmoiré sash of the order interwoven with berried laurel and centering a star with the Cyrillic motto Za sluzhbu i khrabrost (For Service and Bravery), the handle molded in imitation of a rose branch and with a rose blossom terminal,the slip-on domed cover similarly decorated with a row of laurel leaves and centered with an exquisitely molded and painted magenta rose blossom, the underside of the cup with the blue factory mark and a circle and line mark impressed in the paste.Height: 4 ⅜" (11.1 cm)