VELIKII USTIUG, 1790

The Second Siege of Ochakov (1788) was one of the seminal events of the Russo-Turkish War of 1787-1792. The city of Ochakov, located on a peninsula in the Black Sea at the entrance to the estuary of the Dnieper River, opposite Kinburn, was controlled by the Ottoman army under the command of Hassan Pasha. Russian forces led by Prince Grigorii Potemkin and General Alexander Suvorov laid siege to the city over a period of six months. At the same time, the naval Battle of Ochakov took place alongside the city. Despite Suvorov's urging to storm the city immediately, Potemkin kept Russian forces encircling Ochakov, bombarding the city with cannons and cutting off the defenders' supply lines. The Turks made several attempts to break the siege. In late July, about 5,000 janissaries attacked positions of the Russian Cossack squad and forced it to retreat. Suvorov personally led reinforcements and chased the janissaries to the city gates, but he sustained injuries. As time wore on, the condition of both armies gradually deteriorated, and the weather grew bitterly cold, Suvorov's strategy won out. On the night of 17 December, Russian forces stormed the city. About 4,000 Turks were taken prisoner, including Hassan Pasha himself, but most of the city garrison was killed in a street fight. The Treaty of Jassy, signed at the end of the war in 1792 transferred Ochakov to the Russian Empire.

The Russian victory in Ochakov was commemorated in a famous ode by Gavriil Derzhavin, Osen' vo vremia osady Ochakova.

A comparable silver and niello cartographic box, depicting the Battle of Chesma during the Russo-Turkish War (1768-1774), was sold Christie's, New York, 11 April 2003, lot 81.