.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
The present vase is one of four produced at the Imperial Lapidary Factory in Ekaterinburg in 1885-1887, each costing 3,435 Rubels. Over the years the four vases were dispersed: the present vase; one exhibited at the 1896 All-Russia Industrial and Art Exhibition held in Nizhny Novgorod and recently offered Bonham’s, London, 27 November 2019, lot 169; one gifted by Tzar Nicholas II to an English national and its current whereabouts unknown; and another, the fate of which is unclear. It is most likely that the vase exhibited and the one gifted by the Tzar formed one pair, while the lot offered here was en suite with the vase whose post-production history is unknown. Originally, the present vase had elaborate handles, which were retained on the Bonham’s pair, that were damaged over the years and eventually replaced by the current silver mounts.
The art of stonecutting has been prized in Russia since early in the eighteenth century as a specifically national art, utilizing Russian-born craftsmen and the country's vast resources of mineral deposits. A series of geological expeditions to the Ural and Altai mountains sponsored by the Academy of Arts in the second half of the eighteenth century yielded amazing discoveries of hardstones, including kalkan jasper (discovered in 1756 by Ivan Krasavin) green breccia, rhodonite (discovered in 1781-83), lazurite and many different varieties of porphyry (discovered in 1786 by the River Korgon in the Altai Mountains of Siberia). During the last quarter of the 1700s, large blocks of semiprecious stones were shipped to St. Petersburg to be worked. The success of the Peterhof factory prompted the imperial government to open further workshops in Ekaterinburg and Kolyvan, where local craftsman could work on larger blocks of uncut stone. Most workshops were active until the October Revolution, and some even operated after the Soviets rose to power.
Christie’s is grateful to Paul Dyson, scholar of Russian hardstones, for his help in preparing this catalogue entry.
The art of stonecutting has been prized in Russia since early in the eighteenth century as a specifically national art, utilizing Russian-born craftsmen and the country's vast resources of mineral deposits. A series of geological expeditions to the Ural and Altai mountains sponsored by the Academy of Arts in the second half of the eighteenth century yielded amazing discoveries of hardstones, including kalkan jasper (discovered in 1756 by Ivan Krasavin) green breccia, rhodonite (discovered in 1781-83), lazurite and many different varieties of porphyry (discovered in 1786 by the River Korgon in the Altai Mountains of Siberia). During the last quarter of the 1700s, large blocks of semiprecious stones were shipped to St. Petersburg to be worked. The success of the Peterhof factory prompted the imperial government to open further workshops in Ekaterinburg and Kolyvan, where local craftsman could work on larger blocks of uncut stone. Most workshops were active until the October Revolution, and some even operated after the Soviets rose to power.
Christie’s is grateful to Paul Dyson, scholar of Russian hardstones, for his help in preparing this catalogue entry.