The story itself, broadly familiar from popular treatments over the years, is well told by Tsuyoshi Hasegawa in “The Last Tsar: The Abdication of Nicholas II and the Fall of the Romanovs.” ...

This all changed in 1917 with the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II and the overthrow of the Tsarist regime. In February 1917, the Imperial Porcelain Factory became the State Porcelain Factory.