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Lot Essay
A printed paper label to the back of this cabinet is inscribed in Cyrillic 'State Bedchamber in the Kremlin Palace', marked with the palace governance number '872' in manuscript, and the Soviet de-accession number for 1928. This is accompanied by the stamp of the Berlin dealer and auctioneer Lepke, who held sales of Imperial Russian furniture and works of art from 1928 to the mid-1930s. These auctions consisted largely of western European works of art, considered at the time of wider commercial interest than Russian items, such as the present cabinet, which were usually sold or handled privately.
The architect Konstantin Andreevich Ton (d. 1881) was commissioned by Tsar Nicholas I to build the Great Kremlin Palace on the Borovitsky hill overlooking the Moscow River and construction continued from circa 1837 to 1849.
The cut-brass and pewter marquetry is directly comparable to a suite of magnificent doors to the The Grand Drawing Room and the State Bedchamber crafted by Blechschmidt. This cabinet was most likely commissioned as part of a suite of furniture for the State Bedchamber, and like the doors very probably designed by the artist and archaeologist Feodor Grigorevich Solntsev (d.1892), who was responsible for the interior decoration at the Kremlin. Blechschmidt is said to follow Boulle's technique which became fashionable again in the 1830s. He was the only master left in Russia at that time who could professionally execute this marquetry using various materials like tortoiseshell, rare woods, brass, ivory, and mother of pearl.
Blechschmidt also produced a marquetry table top and a pair of related doors for the Empress' bureau at the Kremlin (see N. Guseva, Russian Furniture in the Style of the Second and Third Rococo, Moscow, 2003 pp. 51, 56-57).
A related cabinet sold Sotheby's, New York, 26 March 1988, lot 206.
The architect Konstantin Andreevich Ton (d. 1881) was commissioned by Tsar Nicholas I to build the Great Kremlin Palace on the Borovitsky hill overlooking the Moscow River and construction continued from circa 1837 to 1849.
The cut-brass and pewter marquetry is directly comparable to a suite of magnificent doors to the The Grand Drawing Room and the State Bedchamber crafted by Blechschmidt. This cabinet was most likely commissioned as part of a suite of furniture for the State Bedchamber, and like the doors very probably designed by the artist and archaeologist Feodor Grigorevich Solntsev (d.1892), who was responsible for the interior decoration at the Kremlin. Blechschmidt is said to follow Boulle's technique which became fashionable again in the 1830s. He was the only master left in Russia at that time who could professionally execute this marquetry using various materials like tortoiseshell, rare woods, brass, ivory, and mother of pearl.
Blechschmidt also produced a marquetry table top and a pair of related doors for the Empress' bureau at the Kremlin (see N. Guseva, Russian Furniture in the Style of the Second and Third Rococo, Moscow, 2003 pp. 51, 56-57).
A related cabinet sold Sotheby's, New York, 26 March 1988, lot 206.