The Russian Emperor Nicholas I (r. 1825-55) made a State Visit to Britain in June 1844, staying at both Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle. This was the first visit of a ruling Tsar since that of Alexander I in 1814 at the time of the allied celebrations after the defeat of Napoleon. He arrived at Woolwich (having travelled incognito as 'Count Orlov') on 1 June and was determined to make the most of his short visit. He called on the Duke of Wellington at Apsley House, and attended a banquet given in his honour at Chiswick by the Duke of Devonshire. He twice attended Ascot races, donating a cup worth £500 to be run for annually, and contributed towards the completion of Nelson's Column. Having resisted the proposed visit for some time, the Queen warmed to the Tsar but found him humourless and lacking in education. Subsequently, when a number of the ground floor reception rooms at Buckingham Palace were refitted in 1849, one of them was named the 1844 Room in honour of the visit, with the double-headed eagle prominent in the heraldic plasterwork of the ceiling. Following his return to Russia, the Tsar despatched this vase (together with its marble pedestal) and a mosaic table to the Queen and Prince Albert. The gifts were transported in eight cases on the steamer Mermaid and arrived at Windsor in early December, when the Queen pronounced the vase 'splendid and immense'. It is of 'Medici' form and was made at the Imperial Porcelain Manufactory in St Petersburg, decorated with matt and burnished gold, with large-scale views of the imperial palaces of Peterhof and Tsarskoe Selo on either side, painted by N. Korniloff (d. 1852). The handles and the moulding around the rim are of gilt bronze. The porcelain factory was founded by the Tsarina Elizabeth in 1744, when the first pieces of hard-paste porcelain were produced. Under Catherine the Great (r. 1762-96) the factory worked mainly for the imperial court and the craftsmen were exclusively Russian. The vase was placed in the window bay of the Green Drawing Room at Windsor Castle, where it stood until soon after Queen Victoria's death, when it was removed to Osborne. During the restoration of Windsor Castle after the 1992 fire, the vase and its pedestal were returned to Windsor and placed against the north window of the State Dining Room. Catalogue entry from Royal Treasures, A Golden Jubilee Celebration, London 2002