AUGUSTIN-CHRISTIAN RITT (RUSSIAN, 1765-1799)
Prospective purchasers are advised that several co… Read more
AUGUSTIN-CHRISTIAN RITT (RUSSIAN, 1765-1799)

Details
AUGUSTIN-CHRISTIAN RITT (RUSSIAN, 1765-1799)
Grand Duke Alexander Pavlovich (1778-1825), in blue coat with silver buttons, white cravat, wearing the blue moiré sash and breast-star of the Imperial Russian Order of St Andrew, and the Order of St Anna, powdered hair
signed 'Ritt' (lower right)
on ivory
2 5/8 in. (67 mm.) diam., silver-gilt mount
Provenance
Robert D. Brewster (1916-1995) Collection, New York; Sotheby's, London, 14 December 1995, lot 60.
Literature
G. N. Komelova, Augustin Ritt: Russian Miniaturist 1765-1799. Life and Art, St Petersburg, 2004, illustrated p. 49, no. 13, no. 2 of catalogue raisonné (p. 131), and listed in artist's fee book for 1793 (painted for 'Prince Waldron').
Special notice
Prospective purchasers are advised that several countries prohibit the importation of property containing materials from endangered species, including but not limited to coral, ivory and tortoiseshell. Accordingly, prospective purchasers should familiarize themselves with relevant customs regulations prior to bidding if they intend to import this lot into another country.

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Matilda Burn
Matilda Burn

Lot Essay

Grand Duke Alexander Pavlovich, later Tsar Alexander I of Russia, was the son of Tsar Paul I and Maria Feodorovna. He was raised by his grandmother, Catherine the Great, and educated by his Swiss tutor, Frédéric-César de La Harpe. He married, in 1793, at the age of fifteen, the fourteen-year-old Princess Louise Maria Auguste of Baden, who became Elizabeth Alexeivna. He succeeded to the throne after the assassination of his father in 1801 and ruled Russia during the Napoleonic Wars. On his death in 1825 his younger brother, Nicholas I became Emperor of Russia.

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