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Lot Essay
Both these salt cellars and coffee-pot belonged to Jean Herbette (1878-1960), the first French Ambassador to the Soviet Union. He was appointed upon the resumption of diplomatic relations between France and the Soviet Union in December 1924. During their six years in Leningrad, he and his wife became passionate collectors of Russian objects, particularly pieces evocative of the Imperial past. In the 1920s, when the Soviet government first released objects from museum collections for hard currency, a number of foreign ambassadors including Jean Herbette purchased important works of art.
The impressive collection that the Herbettes amassed from both private sources and the Soviet Sate was sold at Christie’s, Geneva, 25-26 May 1971.
The Zhilin family of Velikii Ustiug were renowned masters of niello work in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Works by Ivan Zhillin are held in the collections of the State Historical Museum, Moscow, and the Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg.
The impressive collection that the Herbettes amassed from both private sources and the Soviet Sate was sold at Christie’s, Geneva, 25-26 May 1971.
The Zhilin family of Velikii Ustiug were renowned masters of niello work in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Works by Ivan Zhillin are held in the collections of the State Historical Museum, Moscow, and the Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg.