Pieces from the St George Service F. Ya. Gardner Factory Designer G. I. Kozlov 1778 Porcelain; underglaze painting, polychrome gilt The service of the Order of St. George, consisting of 80 pieces, was commissioned by Empress Catherine the Great. It was made at the private Gardner factory near Moscow in 1778 and cost 6,000 roubles. The Russian artist and decorator G. I. Kozlov designed the service on the basis of the Berlin Service, a formal porcelain service presented to Catherine II by Friedrich II. The principal motifs of the decoration is a ribbon interwoven with a garland of laurels and the star of the order. It was used for a state dinner for the first time in the Winter Palace in 1778, on the ninth anniversary of the Order, and later on each anniversary of the Order.