Judging by the reaction of numerous visitors to the permanent display in “the house of the Brković family”, what leaves a special mark on everyone is without doubt a luxurious table set for 12 people, which belonged to Artemiza Hristić, the dashing mistress of King Milan Obrenović. Many will wonder who she was. Her maiden name was Joanidis. She was the daughter of a Greek merchant and a supplier of the court in Belgrade. After she got married to Milan Hristić, who worked for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, she became a part of the then Serbian “high society”. She spent some time at court as Queen Natalija’s lady-in-waiting. King Milan immediately spotted her beauty and they soon fell in love. So as to be able to spend more time with his lover, Serbian king appointed her husband as his personal secretary.

Following his divorce with Queen Natalija in 1888, Milan planned to marry Artemiza. He wanted her to get divorced as soon as possible. However, since she was unable to do that easily, she left Belgrade. She lived in Constantinople, where she gave birth to a son in 1889, who was believed to be the child of King Milan.

When she left Belgrade, Artemiza’s husband Milan didn’t want to keep a part of their mutual household – especially this table set – so his younger sister Draginja took it.

After the thorough examination of the table set, it was confirmed by its chronological, typological and status symbols that it could have belonged to the married couple Hristić. It was made of high-quality Bohemian porcelain in a workshop in Thuringia, most likely in the second half of the XIX century, i.e. during its heyday. This type of table set, which was more than a hundred years old, of immense value, of high quality, and masterly made, was characteristic for both royal families as well as high-ranking social circles of the time.