Monday, September 24, 2012

The new 2012 Royal Copenhagen Christmas plate is here!

Now in stock: The 2012 Royal Copenhagen Christmas plate

The new 2012 Royal Copenhagen Christmas plate is designed by Sven Vestergaard and has the title "Horns Reef". The designer has been inspired by the beautiful coastline around Denmark and the motif of the 2012 Royal Copenhagen Christmas plate depicts a sailboat passing Denmark's largest wind farm, Horns Reef, in the North Sea. Horns Reef is situated of the most westerly point of Denmark called BlĂ„vands Huk. Denmark is known as a ship nation and also one of the largest manufacturers of windmills in the world.

Purchase the new 2012 Christmas plate by Royal Copenhagen here


Christmas plate, 2012, Royal Copenhagen
The 2012 Royal Copenhagen Christmas Plate - Buy online here

Buy both new and early editions online here!

The story behind the Royal Christmas plates

Royal Copenhagen (RC) Christmas plates are some of the most famous Christmas plates and collectibles in the world.

The first RC Christmas plate was issued in a very limited edition in 1908, to test the interest of the public. The Christmas plate was warmly received and since then a Christmas plate have continuously been produced every year. The Royal Christmas plates are distinctive because of their famous blue and recognizable spruce branch, which surrounds the subject of all Christmas plates almost from the beginning.

The spruce edge, as we know it from Christmas plates today, have been the same on all of the decorative christmas plates since 1941, but there have been experiments with the edge much earlier. Already on the Christmas plate from 1909, the edge consisted of summer flowers and angels. In the 1911 plate, we have a real spruce branches with cones and in the 1915 version the edge also appears as it looks today. Actually there were some experiments with different edges up through the 1920s and in the 1930s the edge takes more and more shape, and finally in the1941 issue we have the same edge as the one we know today.

Christmas plates, Royal Copenhagen porcelain, vases, cup, lamp, lampshade


In the 1960s and 1970s there were Royal Christmas plates in almost every Danish home. Either as decoration on the walls or as savings in the attic. Unfortunately, the decreased interest in Royal Christmas plates in the subsequent years, has meant that today's christmas plates are not nearly at the high commercial value as the earlier issues.

In 1987 the Royal Porcelain Factory merged with Bing & Grondahl porcelain factory, and thus arose the name Royal Copenhagen in Denmark. Abroad, the Royal Danish Christmas plates have always been known as Royal Copenhagen Christmas plates.

Today, the Royal Copenhagen Christmas plates are also used as dishes for Christmas parties, dessert plates of rice a la mande or as cake plates for festivities. The Christmas plates are of course still hung up on the wall, as always, but today, however, they serve a multiple use.

If you cover your Christmas table in a white, red or blue tablecloth the Royal Copenhagen Christmas plates are complemented beautifully. Along with white porcelain, they provide a beautiful contrast to the main tableware and is a beautiful reminder of tradition and Christmas through the ages, which has been a central part of our consciousness around the Christmas holidays.



Together with the Royal Copenhagen Christmas cups and saucers, you can set up a unique coffee table. In 1979 Royal Copenhagen started the tradition of making a Christmas cup and saucer with the same motif as the Christmas plate of the same year. It gives you the possibility to cover a lavish coffee table with the Royal Copenhagen Christmas Service accompanied by the coffee pot, sugar bowl, creamer and candlesticks.

The very first Royal Christmas plate from 1908 shows Mother Mary with the baby Jesus and was designed by one of the great contemporary artists named Chr. Thomsen. At the beginning the designers of the Christmas plates varied from year to year - one of the designers among the very first Christmas plates is Oluf Jensen. Since the mid-1960s Kaj Lange was a solid designer of Christmas plates. In 1986, Sven Vestergaard took over and he has designed the Royal Copenhagen Christmas plates ever since.