The history of Flora Danica goes back to 1790, when King Christian VII ordered the first Flora Danica service from the Royal Danish Porcelain Manufactory. The service was intended as a diplomatic gift to the empress Catherine II of Russia, and was designed to symbolize the most outstanding in Danish artistry and craftsmanship. The motifs for the service were taken from the comprehensive publication entitled Flora Danica, in which plants from the entire Kingdom of Denmark were illustrated according the principles of the Swedish naturalist Carl von Linné. In book form the work includes more than 3,000 hand-colored copperplates of flowers, trees, aquatic plants and fungi.

The motifs depicting fungi are now being introduced into the Flora Danica Fungi series. The colors used for the Flora Danica Fungi were determined autocratically by nature, with browns and grays, white, fiery reds and a few purple shades among the golden hues of the forest floor. The result is striking, uncompromising and alluring.

On the shiny white porcelain the magnificent common puffball stands proudly in shades of café au lait. It is so true to nature that you can almost smell the mossy forest earth and feel the thrill of finding mushrooms in the countryside. It is the botanical accuracy and precise reproduction of the flora that has made Flora Danica porcelain world famous. The porcelain painter’s personal enthusiasm and artistic skill give the motifs depth and fine nuances so that they seems to rise expressively in three dimensions from the surface of the plate.

The actual process of painting the Flora Danica Fungi takes a longer time and is more demanding than the other Flora Danica motifs as each motif or group of fungi is repeated in a smaller size around the edge of the plate or dish. Consequently each fungus is painted seven times altogether on each item – meticulously correct every time, down to the last detail of the anatomy of the fungus.