A Russian Pan-Slavic Pictorial En Plein and Cloisonné Enameled Gilt Silver Box After Vasnetsov's Prince Ivan...

Description

A Russian Pan-Slavic Pictorial En Plein and Cloisonné Enameled Gilt Silver Box After Vasnetsov's Prince Ivan on the Grey Wolf
Feodor Rückert, Moscow, 1908-1917, with scratched inventory number 2781C
1-1/8 x 2-5/8 x 1-7/8 inches (2.9 x 6.7 x 4.8 cm)
122 grams

PROVENANCE:
An important California private collection;
John Atzbach Antiques, Bellevue, Washington, acquired from the above;
Acquired from the above by the present owner.


The miniature painted enamel on the lid of this exceptional box by Rückert is after an original work painted by Viktor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov in 1889. Vasnetsov's work was based on an ancient tale from folklorist Alexander Afanasyev's collection "Narodnye russkie skazki" (Russian Folk Tales), published between 1855 and 1863. Vasnetsov's canvas immediately caught the popular imagination through reproductions and the original was acquired by Moscow collector Pavel Tretyakov. This famed work of Russian Romanticism remains in the Tretyakov Gallery today.

Rückert returned to this scene more than once: a related box in the Greenfield Collection was sold Christie's New York, October 20, 1998, Lot 127; another was sold Christie's London, October 19, 2004, lot 860; a round pill box by Rückert for Fabergé is in the "Link of Times" Collection at the Fabergé Museum, St. Petersburg; and a cigar case attributed to Rückert and retailed by Marshak is in the collection of the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, Acc. No. 44.941.

This inventory number appears to be in conformity with Tiffany & Co. number series Tif2.2781C as discovered by Anna and Vincent Palmade. Please see their article published in this catalog, page 193. Heritage Auctions is grateful to Anna and Vincent Palmade for their assistance with the research of this lot.

Masterpieces of Russian Enamel from an Important American Collection

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