The Laxenburg Centrepiece was commissioned by Emperor Franz I of Austria as a wedding gift for his son Franz Carl and his bride Sophie of Bavaria, and was made by the Vienna Porcelain Manufactory between 1821 and 1824. 

In order to show the importance of his ancestors in the history of the Habsburg realms and the continuity of the age-old dynasty, Emperor Franz had the centrepiece made in a picturesque Gothic design. He also pursued the same programmatic concept in his pet building project, the Franzensburg in Laxenburg south of Vienna. In this maison de plaisir in the form of a castle, he had original medieval elements incorporated, some of which came from prominent buildings associated with the Habsburg dynasty such as the Capella Speciosa in Klosterneuburg. Not only the shell of the buildings in Laxenburg but also the entire interior was subsumed into the programmatic concept. 

As the emperor regarded the Gothic language of forms as being suited to idealizing medieval times, the design of the centrepiece also followed the same approach. Both the basic shapes of the porcelain and its painted decor derive from Gothic altarpieces, reliquaries and chalices. The painting on the porcelain, in particular the grey undertone of the borders and the expanses of gold highlights are deliberate stylistic elements taken from late Gothic religious panel painting. 

The sepia vedutas on the dessert plates show castles and ruins from Lower Austria, Upper Austria and Bohemia adapted from the monumental work by Franz Sartori describing the fortresses and castles of the Habsburg Monarchy published in 1820.