Imperial KPM Berlin Porcelain Demitasse Saucer Pink Rose Gold Trim Scepter

Original Imperial German porcelain saucer manufactured at the Königliche Porzellan-Manufaktur Berlin (Royal Porcelain Manufactory of Berlin), known by the initials KPM Berlin, the principal court porcelain works of the Kingdom of Prussia. The piece is a single saucer of small dimension, approximately 4.5 inches (114 mm) in diameter, sized appropriately to a coffee, mocha, or demitasse cup rather than a full tea service.

The saucer is formed of hard-paste porcelain in a bright white body of the quality for which KPM Berlin became internationally recognized through the nineteenth century. The decoration is restrained and refined: a single soft rose-pink (rosé) painted band runs around the rim, bordered on its outer edge by a fine gilt line, with a second concentric gilt circle delineating the central cup well. The interior surface within the well is undecorated white porcelain, leaving the cup foot to sit cleanly without competing pattern. The reverse carries the diagnostic KPM marks: the cobalt-blue underglaze scepter (Zepter) — the manufactory mark used continuously by KPM Berlin since 1837 — together with an iron-red overglaze imperial orb (Reichsapfel) surmounted by a small cross, and the printed letters "KPM" in red beneath. This combination of underglaze blue scepter and overglaze red orb is the standard configuration for KPM Berlin pieces of the later nineteenth through early twentieth centuries, the red orb specifically designating decoration carried out at the factory rather than by an outside studio.

KPM Berlin was founded in 1763 by Friedrich II (Frederick the Great) of Prussia, who purchased the existing private porcelain works of Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky and reorganized them as the Königliche Porzellan-Manufaktur. The cobalt scepter mark was introduced in 1837 to replace the earlier "KPM" letter mark, while the Reichsapfel device was added in roughly the same period as a separate decoration designation. Throughout the Kaiserreich (Imperial period, 1871–1918) KPM Berlin supplied porcelain to the Imperial Court of the Hohenzollern, to other German royal and princely houses, to military officers' messes, to embassies, and to private citizens of means across Europe. KPM porcelain of the Imperial period is recognized for its precise potting, brilliant white paste, restrained classical decoration, and exacting quality control under direct royal patronage. The factory continues to operate today on its original Berlin grounds under the same name.

The decorative scheme — a single pastel band of rosé paired with two fine gilt lines — is consistent with KPM's understated late-nineteenth-century coffee and tea service patterns intended for daily use in upper-bourgeois and aristocratic households rather than for state display. The marks present indicate manufactory production with factory-applied decoration during the Imperial period. The cobalt-blue scepter is well defined though slightly soft in transfer, the iron-red orb is crisp and complete, and the printed KPM lettering is fully legible.

Condition is fine. The body is free of chips, cracks, hairlines, or repairs visible in the provided images. The white glaze is bright and clean, without crazing or staining apparent under photography. The rose-pink rim band is fully intact with even color saturation around the full circumference. The gilt lines remain present and continuous, with only minor age-appropriate softening at the points of normal handling. The piece is offered as a single saucer without an accompanying cup.

KPM Berlin porcelain holds a strong and consistent place in the European porcelain collecting market and overlaps directly with the collector base for Imperial German royalty, nobility, and household material. Individual saucers separated from their original services are sought by collectors building or completing dessert and coffee services, by dealers in replacement pieces, and by those assembling representative examples of KPM craftsmanship across the manufactory's history. The simple but elegant rosé and gilt decoration is well suited to display alongside silver, glassware, and other table pieces of the Hohenzollern period, and pairs naturally with porcelain from Meissen, Nymphenburg, Fürstenberg, and other royal German manufactories of the same era.