Imperial Porcelain

The Imperial Porcelain Factory (or Manufactory) (Russian: Императорский Фарфоровый Завод, Imperatorskii Farforovyi Zavod), is a producer of hand-painted ceramics in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It was established by Dmitry Ivanovich Vinogradov in 1744. and was supported by the Romanov tsars since Empress Elizabeth. Many still refer to the factory by its well-known former name, Lomonosov Porcelain Factory.

Founded in 1744, the first porcelain manufactory in Russia was created by order of Empress Elizabeth, daughter of Peter the Great, to "serve native trade and native art." The factory produced wares exclusively for the ruling Romanov family and the Russian Imperial court.

Attempts to reveal the secret of hard paste true porcelain-making had expanded to Russia since the visit of Peter the Great to Saxony in 1718; there, he saw Meissen porcelain at the Dresden court. A talented mining engineer Dmitry Ivanovich Vinogradov, who studied metallurgy at rFeiburg, invented the formula for the Russian porcelain works established in 1744.