A RUSSIAN MALACHITE TAZZA ATTRIBUTED TO THE IMPERIAL LAPIDARY WORKSHOPS,...
On a rectangular plinth with waisted stem, the square bowl with everted rim
121⁄2 in. (31.8 cm.) high
Lot Essay
The Imperial lapidary workshops in Russia, at Peterhof and Ekaterinburg – founded in 1721 and 1751, respectively – created luxurious works of art combining hardstones with ormolu-mounts heavily influenced by Empire designs of the early 19th century in France, such as those on the present vase. Malachite – the stone for which their production was most celebrated – is a stalagmitic form of copper carbonate, and the technique used in the manufacture of objects and furniture is known as Russian mosaic. The malachite was sawn into very thin slices and then applied to a stone or metal ground, the veins being laid to form pleasing patterns. The whole piece was then highly polished with the joins barely visible. Peterhof is the oldest stone-cutting factory, just a few miles from St. Petersburg, however the huge distances from the mines and quarries meant that it was soon joined by the new imperial factory at Ekaterinburg, in the heart of the Ural Mountains. The third most famous factory was Kolyvan, in western Siberia, which specialized in colossal pieces made from the stones extracted from the Altai Mountains.
There is a colored drawing for a malachite mosaic cup of the same unusual form, with square top, circular body and socle and square base and resting on gilt-bronze sphinx-supports, designed by I.I. Galberg and made for Prince Alexander Nikolaevich Golitsyn. It is after an original design of 1816 by Carlo Rossi. The Galberg design, dated 1826, was drawn in St. Petersburg and the cup made at the Ekaterinburg lapidary works. Another design, dated 1842, and also drawn in St. Petersburg by Galberg, has the same square form. It was never executed (V.B. Semyonov, Malachite, Sverdlovsk, 1987, vol. I, p. 133, fig. 11 and vol. II, pp. 112 and 124, figs. 10 and 59), whilst a similar vase, made by the Ekaterinburg lapidary works and from the second quarter of the nineteenth century, in now on display in the Hermitage (ibid, vol. I, p. 182, fig. 43).
Related malachite tazze include one formerly in the Collection of Charles Butler, Esq., 1 Connaught Place, Hyde Park, was sold Christie's, London, 7 December 1989, lot 69 and another, acquired by George, Prince of Wales, later George IV for Windsor Castle, with mounts added by Messrs. Morel and Seddon in 1828, now in the Royal Collection (illustrated in H. Roberts, For the King's Pleasure, London, 2001, p.178, fig.205).
Sale price
Estimate
Time, Location
Auction House
On a rectangular plinth with waisted stem, the square bowl with everted rim
121⁄2 in. (31.8 cm.) high
Lot Essay
The Imperial lapidary workshops in Russia, at Peterhof and Ekaterinburg – founded in 1721 and 1751, respectively – created luxurious works of art combining hardstones with ormolu-mounts heavily influenced by Empire designs of the early 19th century in France, such as those on the present vase. Malachite – the stone for which their production was most celebrated – is a stalagmitic form of copper carbonate, and the technique used in the manufacture of objects and furniture is known as Russian mosaic. The malachite was sawn into very thin slices and then applied to a stone or metal ground, the veins being laid to form pleasing patterns. The whole piece was then highly polished with the joins barely visible. Peterhof is the oldest stone-cutting factory, just a few miles from St. Petersburg, however the huge distances from the mines and quarries meant that it was soon joined by the new imperial factory at Ekaterinburg, in the heart of the Ural Mountains. The third most famous factory was Kolyvan, in western Siberia, which specialized in colossal pieces made from the stones extracted from the Altai Mountains.
There is a colored drawing for a malachite mosaic cup of the same unusual form, with square top, circular body and socle and square base and resting on gilt-bronze sphinx-supports, designed by I.I. Galberg and made for Prince Alexander Nikolaevich Golitsyn. It is after an original design of 1816 by Carlo Rossi. The Galberg design, dated 1826, was drawn in St. Petersburg and the cup made at the Ekaterinburg lapidary works. Another design, dated 1842, and also drawn in St. Petersburg by Galberg, has the same square form. It was never executed (V.B. Semyonov, Malachite, Sverdlovsk, 1987, vol. I, p. 133, fig. 11 and vol. II, pp. 112 and 124, figs. 10 and 59), whilst a similar vase, made by the Ekaterinburg lapidary works and from the second quarter of the nineteenth century, in now on display in the Hermitage (ibid, vol. I, p. 182, fig. 43).
Related malachite tazze include one formerly in the Collection of Charles Butler, Esq., 1 Connaught Place, Hyde Park, was sold Christie's, London, 7 December 1989, lot 69 and another, acquired by George, Prince of Wales, later George IV for Windsor Castle, with mounts added by Messrs. Morel and Seddon in 1828, now in the Royal Collection (illustrated in H. Roberts, For the King's Pleasure, London, 2001, p.178, fig.205).
Sale price
Estimate
Time, Location
Auction House
