After her divorce from Napoleon in 1809, Empress Joséphine ordered a large service of 213 pieces from the Parisian porcelain manufacturer Dihl and Guérhard. Her son Eugène also ordered one, but of only 94 pieces. These very richly decorated services consist of picture plates and plates gilded in full. After the death of the Empress, the two services were reunited by her son in his palace in Munich. It was later sent to Russia in 1839 for the marriage of Eugène de Beauharnais’ son Maximilien de Leuchtenberg to the Grand Duchess Maria Nicolaïevna, daughter of Tsar Nicholas I. While many items are still preserved at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, some ended up on the art market, due to sales organized between by Stalin in 1930s.