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Lot Essay
Aleksei Fedorovich Afanasiev (1850-1920) is most well-known for his caricatures and satirical drawings which were published in a number of magazines including "Chut" which published in the 1890's his drawings depicting the fairy tale "the hunchback horse", reproduced on the above porcelain service.
Each piece of the porcelain service depicts parts of one of the most well-known fairy tales, "The Hunchback Horse" (Konek-Gorbunok) written in 1834 by Piotr Pavlovich Ershov (1815-1869).
His work "The Hunchback Horse" is deservedly a russian classic, quite in the manner of, and by no means inferior to Pushkin's fairy tales in verse. It has a lively plot, sly satire, folksy language and an irresistable driving rhythm.
The fairy tale starts with an old peasant who had three sons. The last one, Ivan caught a wonderful horse which gave birth to two superb stallions and a hunchback horse which became Ivan's best friend. Later, Ivan and the hunchback horse tried to catch the firebird and after many changes of situation, Ivan married the Tsar's daughter and became Tsar himself at the end.
Each piece of the porcelain service depicts parts of one of the most well-known fairy tales, "The Hunchback Horse" (Konek-Gorbunok) written in 1834 by Piotr Pavlovich Ershov (1815-1869).
His work "The Hunchback Horse" is deservedly a russian classic, quite in the manner of, and by no means inferior to Pushkin's fairy tales in verse. It has a lively plot, sly satire, folksy language and an irresistable driving rhythm.
The fairy tale starts with an old peasant who had three sons. The last one, Ivan caught a wonderful horse which gave birth to two superb stallions and a hunchback horse which became Ivan's best friend. Later, Ivan and the hunchback horse tried to catch the firebird and after many changes of situation, Ivan married the Tsar's daughter and became Tsar himself at the end.