LAST QUARTER 18TH CENTURY

Details

A RARE RUSSIAN WALRUS IVORY WORK BOX
LAST QUARTER 18TH CENTURY
Of rectangular form, with hinged lid and drawer in the base, the exterior mounted with panels pierced and carved with flowers, leaves, swags and geometric patterns on a foil background within beaded borders, enclosing a fitted interior with pink silk lining with ivory panel and compartments containing sewing and embroidering instruments, the drawer containing further instruments
5¼ in. (13.5 cm.) high; 10 in. (25.5 cm.) wide; 7½ in. (19 cm.) deep

Special notice

This lot is offered without reserve. No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

Most carved and filigreed bone-veneered objects and furniture produced in Russia during the second half of the 18th century, is thought to have been manufactured at Archangelsk, a Northern seaport. There was a royal manufactory there specializing in furniture, the veneer made from walrus tusks found in the Arctic Sea. Objects veneered in bone were also manufactured in the town of Kholmogory and the villages of Kurostrovy, Ukhtostrov and others.

This piece has carving of a similar design to some bone-veneered pieces in Russian public collections; namely a cabinet in the Hermitage Collection and a bureau now in the Catherine Palace at Tsarskoe Selo - see Russian Furniture in the Collection of the Hermitage, 1973, figs. 37 and 38.

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