A Soviet porcelain group "Civil War Hero Vasilii Chapaev...

A Soviet porcelain group "Civil War Hero Vasilii Chapaev on Horseback"

Lomonosov State Porcelain Manufactory, Leningrad, 1936-1945

Depicting the hero on horseback after the 1938 design by Kazimir Ryzhov, stamped with dark green factory mark.

H: 9 7/8 in.

PROVENANCE:

Ode to Joy Collection, Connecticut.

Literature:
See also E. Sametskaia, Sovetskii agitatsionnyi farfor, Moscow 2004, p.280, and also Nosovich and Popova, p.610, see also Oda k radosti/Ode to Joy, pp. 200-201 for an image of this model in production.

Note:
Vasilii Ivanovich Chapaev (1887-1919) was born a peasant, and became a Soviet hero of the Civil War after assuming command of the 138th Infantry Division. As commander of the 25th Rifle Division, he apparently knew no defeat and died crossing the Ural River. His life became a 1934 film by the Vasilyev brothers and the subject of two books, Chapayev (1923) by Dmitri Furmanov and Chapayev and Void (1996) by Viktor Pelevin.