The Roses series of decorative dishes was made in the painting workshop of Prince Nikolai Yusupov in 1824–1827. The source material for the dishes was found in the color engravings of the three-volume Roses atlas, kept in the library of Prince Yusupov’s manor in Arkhangelsk.
It is widely considered that the atlas was assembled by the French botanist Pierre-Joseph Redouté, who during his stint as the court painter of Joséphine Beauharnais painted the roses that grew in her garden in Malmaison. Yusupov’s artisans were creative in the way they copied things from the atlas, sometimes reworking them or omitting details they deemed unimportant. For instance, on their way from rectangular paper to round dish, the artisans could leave off one of the smaller rose buds and stems or change the position of some of the flowers and leaves relative to each other. The depiction of flowers on each dish was accompanied by a label that specified the sort.
Most of these dishes were in the collection of the Yusupov princes in their Moscow home. In the mid-19th century, the dishes from the Roses series were moved to St. Petersburg and kept in Yusupov Palace by the Moyka River.