.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
One of the three known personal awards commissioned by Peter the Great enclosing his miniature; this is the only surviving example in private hands. Peter the Great (1672-1725) bestowed this particular example upon Zacharia Dix around 1717.
Peter the Great met the Dutch merchant Dix in 1697 during the Russian Tsar's chief European tour (see Rapchinski, Peter de Groote in Holland, 1697-1698, 1925, p. 97). The first Tsar to extend Russian enterprise into Europe, Peter the Great visited Holland, France and England between 1697-98 with the purpose of bringing Western culture to Russia. Peter the Great succeeded in his goal of transforming Russia into a great world power in part by touring Europe at this time with a delegation called the Grand Embassy, gathering commercial and engineering knowledge and returning to Russia with over 750 foreign experts in various fields of science and trade.
His time in Holland was dedicated to learning the art of shipbuilding, which he approached incognito in order to best acquaint himself with hands-on experience. It was in this pursuit that he encountered Zacharia Dix who subsequently oversaw the complete management of the 1704 commercial freight traveling on the first Russian trading ship departing from Holland, The Apostle Paul.
In England, where Peter the Great met William III of Orange, he also sat for a portrait by the celebrated court painter Godfried Kneller, now in the Royal Collection in Windsor Castle. This was the first official portrait of the Tsar and was the likeness used for a series of enamel portrait miniatures commissioned by Peter from Charles Boit, also court enameller to William of Orange.
Charles Boit (1662-1727)
"Charles Boit was born in Stockholm to French parents. Initially apprenticed to a goldsmith in Stockholm from 1677 to 1682, he then travelled to Paris, returning to Stockholm by 1685. He may have studied with the enameller Signac, or with Elias Brenner and Andreas von Behn. The year after the accession of William of Orange and Mary Stuart to the English throne in 1688, Boit became court enameller to William III...
During his extensive travels through Europe, the discoveries of the young Tsar Peter the Great (1672-1723) included enamel portrait miniatures. Although the technique of enamelling was far from unknown in Russia, its use for real-life likenesses was new to Peter the Great. His first contacts with an enameller took place in England during his first visit to London he met Charles Boit in 1697/98. Cavalli-Björkman (1981, p. 41) and Odom (1996, p. 82) state that Boit painted the Tsar as early as 1698, after a painting by Kneller. Nevertheless it was not until 1717, when he was in Paris, that Boit executed any major work for the Tsar. Peter the Great is said to have commissioned forty of his portraits from Boit, who also had to copy Nattier's portrait of Peter's wife Catherine, painted at the Hague in 1717 (see Reynolds, 1999, p. 275, no. 402). These enamels were presented by the Tsar to dignitaries of the State as rewards and worn like orders. It is not known if the Tsar tried to attract Boit to come with him to Russia, but the Tsar's offer to Boit's pupil Martin van Meytens was turned down." S. Coffin and B. Hofstetter, The Gilbert Collection, Portrait Miniatures in Enamel, (London, 2000) p. 25 and 50.
Not only exceptional in its rarity and quality, this personal award to Zacharia Dix is uniquely accompanied by extensive original records documenting Dix's role and the burgeoning business enterprises between Europe and Russia at this early date. Remarkably, these manuscripts recording a time when Russia was still unchartered resource to most European trade, have remained undisturbed with Dix's direct descendants over the course of the last 300 years together with the award itself.
The majority of these records are signed either by Peter the Great himself or by his closest confidants and officials, such as Prince Menshikov, Count Feodor Apraxin and Count Gavriil Golovin. A further fascinating item is the 1717 invoice from the jeweler who appears to have set the miniature in its bejeweled frame.
List of the documents attached to this lot:
1. Certificate from the States General of Holland to Arnold Dix dated August 20th 1697 (in Dutch).
2. List of expenses for the ships St. Andrew and St. Paul to Arkhangelsk met by Zacharia Dix (in Russian).
3. List of expenses met by Zacharia Dix for the ships St. Andrew and St. Paul in 1704 during a journey between Amsterdam and Archangelsk (in Russian).
4. A safe conduct for Zacharia Dix and his companion on the way to Mitau in the Baltic countries signed by Aleksander Menshikov dated 17 February 1706 (in Russia).
5. Goldsmith invoice made for Arnold Dix dated 10 July 1717 (in Russian).
6. A letter referring to a shipment of tobacco sent by Dix dated December 1717 (in Russian).
7. Certificate conferring the grade of Counsellor of Commerce to Zacharia Dix signed by Peter the Great and dated january 1718 (in Russian).
8. Letter signed by Count Gavriil Golovin dated 31 January 1718 addressed to Z. Dix (in Dutch).
9. Few documents related to Zacharia Dix
Peter the Great met the Dutch merchant Dix in 1697 during the Russian Tsar's chief European tour (see Rapchinski, Peter de Groote in Holland, 1697-1698, 1925, p. 97). The first Tsar to extend Russian enterprise into Europe, Peter the Great visited Holland, France and England between 1697-98 with the purpose of bringing Western culture to Russia. Peter the Great succeeded in his goal of transforming Russia into a great world power in part by touring Europe at this time with a delegation called the Grand Embassy, gathering commercial and engineering knowledge and returning to Russia with over 750 foreign experts in various fields of science and trade.
His time in Holland was dedicated to learning the art of shipbuilding, which he approached incognito in order to best acquaint himself with hands-on experience. It was in this pursuit that he encountered Zacharia Dix who subsequently oversaw the complete management of the 1704 commercial freight traveling on the first Russian trading ship departing from Holland, The Apostle Paul.
In England, where Peter the Great met William III of Orange, he also sat for a portrait by the celebrated court painter Godfried Kneller, now in the Royal Collection in Windsor Castle. This was the first official portrait of the Tsar and was the likeness used for a series of enamel portrait miniatures commissioned by Peter from Charles Boit, also court enameller to William of Orange.
Charles Boit (1662-1727)
"Charles Boit was born in Stockholm to French parents. Initially apprenticed to a goldsmith in Stockholm from 1677 to 1682, he then travelled to Paris, returning to Stockholm by 1685. He may have studied with the enameller Signac, or with Elias Brenner and Andreas von Behn. The year after the accession of William of Orange and Mary Stuart to the English throne in 1688, Boit became court enameller to William III...
During his extensive travels through Europe, the discoveries of the young Tsar Peter the Great (1672-1723) included enamel portrait miniatures. Although the technique of enamelling was far from unknown in Russia, its use for real-life likenesses was new to Peter the Great. His first contacts with an enameller took place in England during his first visit to London he met Charles Boit in 1697/98. Cavalli-Björkman (1981, p. 41) and Odom (1996, p. 82) state that Boit painted the Tsar as early as 1698, after a painting by Kneller. Nevertheless it was not until 1717, when he was in Paris, that Boit executed any major work for the Tsar. Peter the Great is said to have commissioned forty of his portraits from Boit, who also had to copy Nattier's portrait of Peter's wife Catherine, painted at the Hague in 1717 (see Reynolds, 1999, p. 275, no. 402). These enamels were presented by the Tsar to dignitaries of the State as rewards and worn like orders. It is not known if the Tsar tried to attract Boit to come with him to Russia, but the Tsar's offer to Boit's pupil Martin van Meytens was turned down." S. Coffin and B. Hofstetter, The Gilbert Collection, Portrait Miniatures in Enamel, (London, 2000) p. 25 and 50.
Not only exceptional in its rarity and quality, this personal award to Zacharia Dix is uniquely accompanied by extensive original records documenting Dix's role and the burgeoning business enterprises between Europe and Russia at this early date. Remarkably, these manuscripts recording a time when Russia was still unchartered resource to most European trade, have remained undisturbed with Dix's direct descendants over the course of the last 300 years together with the award itself.
The majority of these records are signed either by Peter the Great himself or by his closest confidants and officials, such as Prince Menshikov, Count Feodor Apraxin and Count Gavriil Golovin. A further fascinating item is the 1717 invoice from the jeweler who appears to have set the miniature in its bejeweled frame.
List of the documents attached to this lot:
1. Certificate from the States General of Holland to Arnold Dix dated August 20th 1697 (in Dutch).
2. List of expenses for the ships St. Andrew and St. Paul to Arkhangelsk met by Zacharia Dix (in Russian).
3. List of expenses met by Zacharia Dix for the ships St. Andrew and St. Paul in 1704 during a journey between Amsterdam and Archangelsk (in Russian).
4. A safe conduct for Zacharia Dix and his companion on the way to Mitau in the Baltic countries signed by Aleksander Menshikov dated 17 February 1706 (in Russia).
5. Goldsmith invoice made for Arnold Dix dated 10 July 1717 (in Russian).
6. A letter referring to a shipment of tobacco sent by Dix dated December 1717 (in Russian).
7. Certificate conferring the grade of Counsellor of Commerce to Zacharia Dix signed by Peter the Great and dated january 1718 (in Russian).
8. Letter signed by Count Gavriil Golovin dated 31 January 1718 addressed to Z. Dix (in Dutch).
9. Few documents related to Zacharia Dix