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Lot Essay
The recipient of this box was Timofei Mironovich Vremev (1774-1825), son of Miron Fedorovich Vremev and his wife Elizaveta Matveevna, née Arapova. Descendants of a Moldavian family who had followed Prince Cantecuzene into Russian exile, Timofei married first Nataliia Alekseevna Martynova, by whom he had three daughters, and second Aleksandra Iakovlevna Velikovich, to whom was born one son.
The presentation of this box by Catherine the Great is one commemoration of the last semblance of Polish independence. 1794 was the year of the Polish insurrection under Tadeusz Kosciuszko (1746-1817). Having seen heroic service as a volunteer in the army of the United States, for which he was granted American citizenship, Kosciuszko returned to Poland and served in its army from 1791. On hearing of the insurrection he took over the organization of the army in April, and had mixed success against the Russians, until he was overcome by the combined efforts of Russia, Austria and Prussia. On 10 October at the battle of Maciejowice 7,000 Poles were defeated by 16,000 Russians, when Kosciuszko was wounded and captured. The Polish army fought on until the carnage at Praga (now a suburb of Warsaw) on 29 October, the last corps capitulating on 18 November. The secret third partition of Poland between Russia and Austria was agreed on 3 January 1795, Prussia reluctantly agreeing to it in the following October.
Kosciuszko was released by Catherine's son Paul in 1796, when he returned to America, before retiring to exile in France where he died. The marks on this box are the same as those on a box in the Louvre, illustrated in S. Grandjean, Les tabatières du musée du Louvre, Paris, 1981, p. 442, no. 546.
The presentation of this box by Catherine the Great is one commemoration of the last semblance of Polish independence. 1794 was the year of the Polish insurrection under Tadeusz Kosciuszko (1746-1817). Having seen heroic service as a volunteer in the army of the United States, for which he was granted American citizenship, Kosciuszko returned to Poland and served in its army from 1791. On hearing of the insurrection he took over the organization of the army in April, and had mixed success against the Russians, until he was overcome by the combined efforts of Russia, Austria and Prussia. On 10 October at the battle of Maciejowice 7,000 Poles were defeated by 16,000 Russians, when Kosciuszko was wounded and captured. The Polish army fought on until the carnage at Praga (now a suburb of Warsaw) on 29 October, the last corps capitulating on 18 November. The secret third partition of Poland between Russia and Austria was agreed on 3 January 1795, Prussia reluctantly agreeing to it in the following October.
Kosciuszko was released by Catherine's son Paul in 1796, when he returned to America, before retiring to exile in France where he died. The marks on this box are the same as those on a box in the Louvre, illustrated in S. Grandjean, Les tabatières du musée du Louvre, Paris, 1981, p. 442, no. 546.