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Lot Essay
This superb pair of vases were made of grey Kalkan jasper, named after Lake Kalkan in the Southern Urals, where this coloured hardstone was excavated. They are virtually identical to six vases, which were supplied to Pavlovsk by the Peterhof factory in 1800-'01. Interestingly, these bear the same abbreviated Peterhof inscription as the present vases (E. Ducamp, Pavlovsk, the Collections, Paris, 1993, pp. 197-198, 202, figs. 1-2).
Kalkan jasper was famed for its grey-green colour and highly polished surface, which could be worked to a mirror-like sheen. Exceedingly decorative and relatively easy to work, this hardstone was amply used at Pavlovsk, where various other carved vases from Ekaterinburg exist as well as obelisks and columns. One of the most ambitious items of Kalkan jasper is a circular bowl in the Hermitage, 178 cm. high and 169 cm. in diameter, which was executed in Ekaterinburg circa 1822-1828 and exhibited in the Paris Great Exhibition of 1867 (A. Chenevière, Russian Furniture, London, 1989, p. 270).
Kalkan jasper was famed for its grey-green colour and highly polished surface, which could be worked to a mirror-like sheen. Exceedingly decorative and relatively easy to work, this hardstone was amply used at Pavlovsk, where various other carved vases from Ekaterinburg exist as well as obelisks and columns. One of the most ambitious items of Kalkan jasper is a circular bowl in the Hermitage, 178 cm. high and 169 cm. in diameter, which was executed in Ekaterinburg circa 1822-1828 and exhibited in the Paris Great Exhibition of 1867 (A. Chenevière, Russian Furniture, London, 1989, p. 270).