A Russian En Plein and Cloisonné Enameled Gilt Silver Casket after Makovsky's Boyar Wedding. Feodor Rü...

Description

A Russian En Plein and Cloisonné Enameled Gilt Silver Casket after Makovsky's Boyar Wedding
Feodor Rückert, Moscow, 1908-1917, with scratched inventory number 2785C
2-3/4 x 5-3/4 x 4-1/8 inches (7.0 x 14.6 x 10.5 cm)
734 grams

PROVENANCE:
Sotheby's New York, Fabergé, Russian Works of Art, Objects of Vertu and Paperweights, December 6 & 8, 1993, lot 542;
Christie's New York, The Greenfield Collection of Russian Enamels, October 20, 1998, lot 118;
Lyon & Turnbull, London, The Chen Collection, Part I, November 23, 2008, lot 55;
John Atzbach Antiques, Bellevue, Washington, acquired from the above;
Acquired from the above by the present owner.


This important box is one of several works in which Rückert visited and revisited the theme of Makovsky's famous 1883 work A Boyar Wedding Feast in the Seventeenth Century. Other examples have been sold: Sotheby's, London, Fabergé, Imperial & Revolutionary Works of Art, July 11, 2023, lot 45; Christie's, London, Russian Art, June 3, 2019, lot 263; Heritage Auctions, Dallas, Imperial Fabergé & Russian Works of Art, May 17, 2024, lot 82152; and one may be seen in the McFerrin Collection (Inv. 567, illus Opulence, p. 146). The work focuses on one detail of the larger work, a scene known as "The Unveiling of the Bride" in which the noble groom lifts the veil from the face of his betrothed, who looks lovingly into the groom's eyes.

The offered lot is all the more remarkable in that since its discovery more than 30 years ago, it has formed part of all three of the greatest collections of Russian enamels of the 20th century: the Greenfield Collection, the Chen Collection, and the current collection from which it is offered

LITERATURE:
For more information about the Boyar Wedding and its use as a source for Rückert and other enamellers such as Ovchinnikov, Kurliukov, and Khlebnikov, (cf. Salmond, W., Martin, R. & Zeisler, W., Konstantin Makovsky: The Tsar's Painter in America and Paris, Hillwood / D. Giles: London, 2015).

This inventory number appears to be in conformity with Tiffany & Co. number series Tif2.2785C as discovered by Anna and Vincent Palmade. Please see their article published in this catalog, page 188. 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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