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Lot Essay
During the reign of Nicholas I, the Imperial Porcelain Factory produced a remarkable number of vases, many decorated with copies of old master or 19th Century paintings. The vases, frequently presented by the factory as gifts to the Emperor and Empress at Christmas and Easter, were used to adorn palaces, mansions and pavilions. They were also used as grand presentation gifts to both foreigners and Russians. The vases were normally constructed from four parts - the neck, main body, stem and foot. The joints are concealed by gilt bronze bands and the handles are affixed to the body of the vases by slots formed by acanthus leaves.
In line with the European trend to use academic paintings to decorate porcelain, the flat surface in the middle section of the vases was treated like a blank canvas. The miniature works were often copies of paintings in the Hermitage, the Academy of Arts or from collections in the Imperial Palaces in the vicinity of St. Petersburg. The names of the original artist and factory artist are sometimes added to these miniatures.
These monumental vases are decorated with italianate landscapes. The vase bearing the signature of Both is after a painting entitled 'Italian landscape with peasants and donkeys' (The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) by Willem de Heusch, until recently attributed to Jan Both. The painting appears to have been in the private collection of Prince Alexander Bezborodko (1747-99), the Russian statesman who was secretary of petitions under Catherine II and grand chancellor during the reign of Paul I. When the vases were created, the work appears to have been in the collection of the patron of the arts, Count Aleksandr Grigor'evich Bezborodko-Kushelev (1800-1855). The other landscape may be after the same artist or his brother Andries Both (1609-1640).
Baron Wolff in his history of the Imperial Porcelain Factory (St. Petersburg, 1904) illustrates various examples of such monumental pieces produced by the factory, without giving extensive details of these individual painters. However a similar pair of monumental vases decorated with seascapes by Stoletov dated 1840, now in the Russian Museum at St. Petersburg, are reproduced in A. Lanceray, Russian Porcelain, Leningrad, 1968, pl. 162-163.
In line with the European trend to use academic paintings to decorate porcelain, the flat surface in the middle section of the vases was treated like a blank canvas. The miniature works were often copies of paintings in the Hermitage, the Academy of Arts or from collections in the Imperial Palaces in the vicinity of St. Petersburg. The names of the original artist and factory artist are sometimes added to these miniatures.
These monumental vases are decorated with italianate landscapes. The vase bearing the signature of Both is after a painting entitled 'Italian landscape with peasants and donkeys' (The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) by Willem de Heusch, until recently attributed to Jan Both. The painting appears to have been in the private collection of Prince Alexander Bezborodko (1747-99), the Russian statesman who was secretary of petitions under Catherine II and grand chancellor during the reign of Paul I. When the vases were created, the work appears to have been in the collection of the patron of the arts, Count Aleksandr Grigor'evich Bezborodko-Kushelev (1800-1855). The other landscape may be after the same artist or his brother Andries Both (1609-1640).
Baron Wolff in his history of the Imperial Porcelain Factory (St. Petersburg, 1904) illustrates various examples of such monumental pieces produced by the factory, without giving extensive details of these individual painters. However a similar pair of monumental vases decorated with seascapes by Stoletov dated 1840, now in the Russian Museum at St. Petersburg, are reproduced in A. Lanceray, Russian Porcelain, Leningrad, 1968, pl. 162-163.