Archduke Franz Ferdinand Plate

This is a rare porcelain deep / soup plate made by Meissen in around 1900. It is hand painted with the superb red Hofdrachen ( Court dragon ) design that was until 1918 exclusively made for the Royal Court which is also the case here. The design itself is not that hard to find but this piece here belonged to Erzherzog ( Archduke of Austria - Este ) Franz Ferdinand who was a member of the imperial Habsburg dynasty and from 1896 until his death the heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne. His assassination in Sarajevo was one of the factors that resulted in World War I . In the Chinese culture the red dragon symbolizes prosperity, power and good feng-shui. Thus all pieces before 1918 were used by royalty. The more modern ones like this plate were even labeled as such as can be seen here. The plate is in as perfect a condition as one could hope for for a piece like this. Not sure how it ended up here in the US. The plate is hand painted with two different alternating designs along the rim - one being the dragon and the other just a fancy red and gold design. The center has the fighting roosters which I believe are meant to be phoenix birds. The plate is just over 1.75 inches tall and just over 9.125 inches in diameter. It is marked underneath with the underglaze blue crossed swords as well as the usual impressed numbers as well as the red monogram of Archduke Franz Ferdnand in red under a crown as shown. Please email me for more information or other pictures.