This lovely set was designed by Thorkild Olsen in the 1930's for Royal Copenhagen and featured a design inspired by both Art Nouveau and Oriental forms. It was the first release of a line of dinner sets that used this same form.
The design is called Quaking Grass (pattern number 884) , the common name for the Doxia plant which grows throughout Scandinavia. The plant has tiny golden lantern shaped seed pods which dance around in the wind. The design is hand painted and each spray of Doxia is unique, no two motifs are the same. The motifs are placed in such a way that the cream background is also a feature. The tones of green are sage green in colour and work so well with the cream background and the gold of the seed pods. The painters of this lovely design were the same as those used for the prestigious Flora Danica porcelain. When first released the Quaking Grass dinner sets were very expensive and only the very rich could afford them. The design was only released in Europe.
The set comprises 6 cups, saucers and plates, a milk jug, open sugar bowl and a selection of 3 small plates/bowls and three butter pats. The cups have a main motif decoration to one side and a smaller spray of Doxia to the other side and the side plates have a motif to the centre. The saucers have line trim only.
The pieces are marked with various dates from 1948-1963.
There is some wear to the inner gold line to the saucers only as shown. Apart from this there is no wear. All pieces except three are marked as factory firsts. There is a dark mark to the inside of one cup as if there was an impurity in the ceramic and a small indent to the edge of one saucer, both of these are shown. There is also a dark spot to the rim of a plate and a few smaller spots to one saucer, these are impurities within the ceramic.
The cups are 68mm tall x 74mm across the rim. The saucers are 130mm across and the plates 170mm across.
