At DPH Trading we buy and sell new as
well as old Royal Copenhagen Christmas plates.
Each plate is unique for the specific year, after production has
finished the moulds for the year are destroyed, a tradition which
has been followed ever since Royal Copenhagen made their
first Christmas Plate in 1908.
The list below describes each edition of the Royal Copenhagen
Christmas Plate from 1908 till 1940, the motif and the artist. Find
your favourite(s) and buy them online here.
Royal Copenhagen Christmas Plates from 1908 -
1940: (for the years 1941 till today, please use links
below)
| Photo |
Year |
Motif |
Artist |
 |
Royal Copenhagen Christmas Plate 1908
(Ø 16 cm)
|
Madonna with child
|
Christian Thomsen
|
|
|
Royal Copenhagen Christmas Plate 1909
(Ø 16 cm)
|
Snow landscape
|
Stephan Ussing
|
|
|
Royal Copenhagen Christmas Plate 1910
(Ø 16 cm)
|
The Three Wise Men
|
Christian Thomsen
|
|
|
Royal Copenhagen Christmas Plate 1911
(Ø 18 cm)
|
Wooden fence with sheaf of corn
|
Oluf Jensen
|
|
|
Royal Copenhagen Christmas Plate 1911
Special edition
(Ø 16 cm)
|
Snow covered landscape
|
Stephan Ussing
|
|
|
Royal Copenhagen
Christmas Plate 1912
(Ø 18 cm)
|
An old couple at a table with a small Christmas tree
|
Christian Thomsen
|
|
|
Royal Copenhagen Christmas Plate 1913
(Ø 18 cm)
|
The tower and spire on the Marble Church in Copenhagen
|
Arthur Boesen
|
|
|
Royal Copenhagen Christmas Plate 1914
(Ø 18 cm)
|
Sparrows in a tree in front of a lit church window (the church
of the Holy Spirit i Copenhagen)
|
Arthur Boesen
|
|
|
Royal Copenhagen Christmas Plate 1915
(Ø 18 cm)
|
Snow covered landscape with spruce, sledge and church.
|
Arnold Krog
|
|
|
Royal Copenhagen Christmas Plate 1916
(Ø 18 cm)
|
Angel and shepherd
|
Richard Bøcher
|
|
|
Royal Copenhagen Christmas Plate 1917
(Ø 18 cm)
|
The Church of Our Saviour
|
Oluf Jensen
|
|
|
Royal Copenhagen Christmas Plate 1918
(Ø 18 cm)
|
The Church of Our Saviour
|
Oluf Jensen
|
|
|
Royal Copenhagen Christmas Plate 1919
(Ø 18 cm)
|
Birds in snow covered garden
|
Oluf Jensen
|
|
|
Royal Copenhagen Christmas Plate 1920
(Ø 18 cm)
|
The Virgin Mary with Christ the Child
|
Gotfred Rode
|
|
|
Royal Copenhagen Christmas Plate 1921
(Ø 18 cm)
|
Old houses on the town square
|
Oluf Jensen
|
|
|
Royal Copenhagen Christmas Plate 1922
(Ø 18 cm)
|
Angels singing
|
Ellinor Selchau
|
|
|
Royal Copenhagen Christmas Plate 1923
(Ø 18 cm)
|
Snow covered landscape with church
|
Oluf jensen
|
|
|
Royal Copenhagen Christmas Plate 1924
(Ø 18 cm)
|
Schooner at sea Christmas
night.
|
Chr. Benjamin-Olsen
|
|
|
Royal Copenhagen Christmas Plate 1925
(Ø 18 cm)
|
Old houses on Christians Havn
|
Oluf Jensen
|
|
|
Royal Copenhagen Christmas Plate 1926
(Ø 18 cm)
|
Old warehouses on Christians havns Kanal in Copenhagen
|
Richard Bøcher
|
|
|
Royal Copenhagen Christmas Plate 1927
(Ø 18 cm)
|
Helmsman at the wheel Christmas night
|
Chr. Benjamin-Olsen
|
|
|
Royal Copenhagen Christmas Plate 1928
(Ø 18 cm)
|
Vicar on his way to church
|
Gotfred Rode
|
|
|
Royal Copenhagen Christmas Plate 1929
(Ø 18 cm)
|
The Tower of the Grundtvig Church
|
Oluf Jensen
|
|
|
Royal Copenhagen Christmas Plate 1930
(Ø 18 cm)
|
Fishing vessels on their way
towards harbour
|
Chr. Benjamin-Olsen
|
|
|
Royal Copenhagen Christmas Plate 1931
(Ø 18 cm)
|
Children at the Christmas tree
|
Gotfred Rode
|
|
|
Royal Copenhagen Christmas Plate 1932
(Ø 18 cm)
|
The statue of King Frederik VI (sculptor H. V. Bissen) in
Frederiksberg Gardens, Copenhagen
|
Oluf Jensen
|
|
|
Royal Copenhagen Christmas Plate 1933
(Ø 18 cm)
|
The ferry Odin outside Nyborg harbour
|
Chr. Benjamin-Olsen
|
|
|
Royal Copenhagen Christmas Plate 1934
(Ø 18 cm)
|
A Scene from the dee park outside
Copenhagen with the hunting lodge
|
Oluf Jensen
|
|
|
Royal Copenhagen Christmas Plate 1935
(Ø 18 cm)
|
Fishing boat south of Elsinore Castle
|
Chr. Benjamin-Olsen
|
|
|
Royal Copenhagen Christmas Plate 1936
(Ø 18 cm)
|
The cathedral in Roskilde
|
Richard Bøcher
|
|
|
Royal Copenhagen Christmas Plate 1937
(Ø 18 cm)
|
Shopping street in Copenhagen
|
Niels Thorsson
|
|
|
Royal Copenhagen Christmas Plate 1938
(Ø 18 cm)
|
Oesterlars church in Bornholm
|
Herne Nielsen
|
|
|
Royal Copenhagen Christmas Plate 1939
(Ø 18 cm)
|
Ship in heavy ice near Greenland
|
Sv. Nicolai Nielsen
|
|
|
Royal Copenhagen Christmas Plate 1940
(Ø 18 cm)
|
Shepherd in a desert landscape
|
Kaj Lange
|
Royal Copenhagen
Christmas Plates from 1941-1979
Royal Copenhagen
Christmas Plates from 1980-2011
The history of the early Royal Copenhagen
Christmas plates
Royal Copenhagen's first Christmas plate was released in 1908, 7
years after the first porcelain Christmas plate was produced by
Bing & Grondahl.
Philip Schou engaged the very skilled Chemist Adolph Clement in
1883 and later, in 1885, the Architect Arnold Krogh, who became the
manager of Royal Copenhagen. These two developed and refined the
under glaze technique in such a way that Royal
Copenhagen was able to release its first Christmas plate in the
characteristic blue nuances in 1908.
Royal Copenhagen's first Christmas plate from 1908, was only
produced during 1908, and the tradition of only producing the
Christmas plate in the year of its release has been followed until
today. The mould for each year's Christmas plate is destroyed, when
the year comes to an end, and this plate can never be reproduced.
This fact has made Royal Copenhagen Christmas plates from some
years scarce, and especially the 1908 Royal Copenhagen Christmas
plate, which was produced in a very limited number because Royal
Copenhagen had no way of anticipating the success of the Christmas
plate, is in very high demand by collectors all over the world.
Royal Copenhagen 1908 Christmas plate is titled Madonna with
Child. Christian Thomsen designed this first Royal Copenhagen
Christmas plate in the well known blue nuances, and the following
years, Royal Copenhagen engaged a number of very talented designers
to add their contribution to the motif of the Royal Copenhagen
Christmas plate. The Royal Copenhagen Christmas plate motifs have
varied throughout the years, but as a whole, they have caught the
"Danish soul" and the cultural heritage of which it has sprung.
Starting with the Christian tradition on which most Danes built
their lives in 1908, to Christmas traditions, the Danish
winter landscape, the ships sailing in Danish waters, the beautiful
old Danish churches such as the Marble Church, the round churches
of Bornholm to very old houses in Aabenraa, Royal Copenhagen's
Christmas plate offers one description of the Denmark, from where
the Christmas plates originates.
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