BY THE IMPERIAL PORCELAIN FACTORY, ST PETERSBURG, PERIOD OF NICHOLAS II, AND THE STATE PORCELAIN FACTORY, PETROGRAD, 1923

These rare Soviet porcelain cups are related to the Suprematist series of 1923, one of the most experimental and innovative series of the State porcelain factory. The Suprematists' designs are based on abstract geometric forms, influenced by the works of Kazimir Malevich and his followers Nikolai Suetin and Ilya Chashnik.

For comparable Suprematist cups see T. Kudryartseva, Circling the Square, Avant-garde porcelain from Revolutionary Russia (Fontanka, London 2004), pp. 120-123, and Exhibition catalogue, Die Tafel der Zaren und das Porzellan der Revolutionäre, Fragile, Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Frankfurt, pp. 331-333.