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Objects of Russian art reflect, on the one hand, the completely different way of life, everyday life and festive culture in Russia, which was not least shaped by the Russian Orthodox faith, and, on the other hand, the links to Western Europe in lively cultural and artistic exchange. Since the 18th century, the area of rule of the Russian Tsarist Empire also included numerous countries that are now independent, such as Ukraine and Poland. The main focus of the objects of Russian art auctioned are icons, paintings and silver objects, as well as porcelain, glass and objets vertu.
Nothing represents the Russian world of faith, which also dominates life and is determined by traditions, more than icons, whose striking image effect was enhanced by bright gold backgrounds and silver ochre. Despite frequently recurring motifs, they are an extraordinarily versatile area of collecting. One of the earliest pieces is an icon from the 16th century with an Adoration of the Three Kings (proceeds: 12,000 euros). A highlight among the icons from the 18th century was a large icon with the "Annunciation" (proceeds: 17,500 euros). Due to its impressive size (143 x 43 cm) and its great wealth of image fields, an annual icon from around 1800 stood out, exceptional in its beauty and rarity, whose approximately 3,000 figures were executed in fine miniature painting and stood out in contrast against the golden background (proceeds: 22,500 euros). Around 1900, an icon of the "Mother of God Tikhvinskaya" was created, in which the depiction was not only enriched by a relief-shaped, finely crafted, gilded silver oklad, but also by an opulent pearl decoration (proceeds: 7,500 euros). At the same time, a small icon of the saint with an unusual, curved pointed arch shape was created in the Palekh icon painting center (proceeds: 14,000 euros).
Although Russian art was influenced by Western Europe until well into the 19th century, from around 1850 onwards it increasingly depicted Russian themes and motifs. An independent Russian realism developed and in 1870 the important artist association of the "Peredvizhniki" (Wanderers) was founded, whose main representative was Ilya Repin (1844 - 1930). Influenced by French plein air painting, impressionism, later post-impressionism and fauvism, the path led to the Russian avant-garde. An example of Russian realism is the cabinet painting "A Cook" by Vladimir Makovskij (1846 - 1920) from 1887 with its profound, lifelike characterization of the figures, which was borrowed from the art collection of Tsar Alexander III of Russia for the International Art Exhibition in Berlin in 1891 (proceeds 156,000 euros). His younger brother Konstantin Makovskij (1839-1915) created the rare landscape impression of a wall covered in flowers (proceeds: 118,000 euros). The Baltic-Russian painter Julius von Klever (1850-1924) was fond of creating poetic, northwest Russian winter landscapes at sunset, and was successful with these at exhibitions in Berlin, Munich and Paris (proceeds: 40,000 euros). Franz von Roubaud (1856-1928), who worked in St. Petersburg and Munich, combined an atmospheric landscape with a multi-figure scenic representation in his painting "Armed Circassians leading a tribe in the snow-covered Caucasus" (proceeds: 50,000 euros). Nikolai Bogdanov-Belsky (1868 – 1945) studied at the Moscow Art School and under Ilya Repin in St. Petersburg. His most beautiful works include his sensitive, cheerful depictions of the carefree child, such as his “Group of Children in a Garden with Blossoming Apple Trees” (sold for 82,000 euros).
Gold and silversmithing in Russia was concentrated in Moscow and later in St. Petersburg. A Moscow goblet with three crowned busts of the Russian Empress Elizabeth I (1741-1761) dates back to the Baroque era and was made around 1745 (sold for 8,500 euros). In the course of the 19th century, there was a flowering of artistic, technical and artistic craftsmanship, the climax of which was during the reigns of Tsar Alexander III and Nicholas II, when silver objects were refined to perfection. Empire elements were incorporated in the style and decoration, as were old Russian traditions and motifs. These corresponded to the need for representation of both the nobility and the upper middle class. A rare Russian tea set by the Moscow master Egorov Alexander Sergeevich from 1889 in its original box stood out with its finely chiseled city views (sold for 18,500 euros). Old Russian forms and decorations were taken up in a kovsh made around 1910 by the Kurlyukov company in Moscow with high-quality enamel painting, depicting a boyar and a boyarina (sales price: 45,000 euros). In St. Petersburg, workshops such as that of Pawel Akimov Ovchinnikov produced masterful silverwork, and the goldsmith and jeweler Peter Carl Fabergé is still famous today. His jewelry and decorative objects were among the best international works of their time. The Fabergé company paid the greatest attention to the artistic and craftwork, even in the smallest decorative elements. A Fabergé decorative bowl made of red flashed glass with a silver cockatoo figure was made around 1910 (sales price: 16,000 euros). Around 1908-1917, the master Julius A. Rappoport made an elegant salon clock with mythical creatures made of silver on an onyx base in the Fabergé workshop (proceeds 18,000 euros).
In addition to the Imperial Porcelain Manufactory in St. Petersburg, the private Gardner Manufactory in Moscow, founded in 1765/66, was the most important porcelain manufacturer in Russia, whose high-quality figures, services and decorative objects were also valued by the Tsar's court. Gardner produced several medal services for Empress Catherine II, and exclusive porcelain adorned the tables and rooms of the imperial palaces and the high nobility. Around 1780, Gardner created a historically significant and extremely rare temple from a dessert centerpiece of Tsarina Catherine II of Russia based on Meissen models, whose allegorical figures personify the various regions of her vast empire (proceeds 56,000 euros). In the period between 1810 and 1830, Russian porcelain art created works with Empire and Biedermeier style elements that are characterized by the highest artistic quality. Such objects also include the polychrome, meticulously painted decoration of the Gardine porcelain factory, such as on a pair of large Empire vases from 1820 with a magnificent gold background and idyllic scenes from family life (sold for 29,000 euros).
The best objects of Russian glass art were either commissioned by the Tsar's court or in the Imperial Glass Manufactory in St. Petersburg. Around 1740-1760, an important Russian baroque goblet was made for the exclusive Order of St. Catherine, to which, apart from the Tsarina (as Grand Master), only Grand Duchesses or Princesses of Imperial blood and other high-ranking ladies belonged (proceeds: 5,000 euros). The reception of Emile Gallé's glass objects is reflected in a calabash vase with cut poppy decoration made around 1900 by the Imperial Glass Manufactory in St. Petersburg, which produced such unique pieces for the court and as diplomatic gifts to related German and European royal families (proceeds: 9,500 euros).
Nothing represents the Russian world of faith, which also dominates life and is determined by traditions, more than icons, whose striking image effect was enhanced by bright gold backgrounds and silver ochre. Despite frequently recurring motifs, they are an extraordinarily versatile area of collecting. One of the earliest pieces is an icon from the 16th century with an Adoration of the Three Kings (proceeds: 12,000 euros). A highlight among the icons from the 18th century was a large icon with the "Annunciation" (proceeds: 17,500 euros). Due to its impressive size (143 x 43 cm) and its great wealth of image fields, an annual icon from around 1800 stood out, exceptional in its beauty and rarity, whose approximately 3,000 figures were executed in fine miniature painting and stood out in contrast against the golden background (proceeds: 22,500 euros). Around 1900, an icon of the "Mother of God Tikhvinskaya" was created, in which the depiction was not only enriched by a relief-shaped, finely crafted, gilded silver oklad, but also by an opulent pearl decoration (proceeds: 7,500 euros). At the same time, a small icon of the saint with an unusual, curved pointed arch shape was created in the Palekh icon painting center (proceeds: 14,000 euros).
Although Russian art was influenced by Western Europe until well into the 19th century, from around 1850 onwards it increasingly depicted Russian themes and motifs. An independent Russian realism developed and in 1870 the important artist association of the "Peredvizhniki" (Wanderers) was founded, whose main representative was Ilya Repin (1844 - 1930). Influenced by French plein air painting, impressionism, later post-impressionism and fauvism, the path led to the Russian avant-garde. An example of Russian realism is the cabinet painting "A Cook" by Vladimir Makovskij (1846 - 1920) from 1887 with its profound, lifelike characterization of the figures, which was borrowed from the art collection of Tsar Alexander III of Russia for the International Art Exhibition in Berlin in 1891 (proceeds 156,000 euros). His younger brother Konstantin Makovskij (1839-1915) created the rare landscape impression of a wall covered in flowers (proceeds: 118,000 euros). The Baltic-Russian painter Julius von Klever (1850-1924) was fond of creating poetic, northwest Russian winter landscapes at sunset, and was successful with these at exhibitions in Berlin, Munich and Paris (proceeds: 40,000 euros). Franz von Roubaud (1856-1928), who worked in St. Petersburg and Munich, combined an atmospheric landscape with a multi-figure scenic representation in his painting "Armed Circassians leading a tribe in the snow-covered Caucasus" (proceeds: 50,000 euros). Nikolai Bogdanov-Belsky (1868 – 1945) studied at the Moscow Art School and under Ilya Repin in St. Petersburg. His most beautiful works include his sensitive, cheerful depictions of the carefree child, such as his “Group of Children in a Garden with Blossoming Apple Trees” (sold for 82,000 euros).
Gold and silversmithing in Russia was concentrated in Moscow and later in St. Petersburg. A Moscow goblet with three crowned busts of the Russian Empress Elizabeth I (1741-1761) dates back to the Baroque era and was made around 1745 (sold for 8,500 euros). In the course of the 19th century, there was a flowering of artistic, technical and artistic craftsmanship, the climax of which was during the reigns of Tsar Alexander III and Nicholas II, when silver objects were refined to perfection. Empire elements were incorporated in the style and decoration, as were old Russian traditions and motifs. These corresponded to the need for representation of both the nobility and the upper middle class. A rare Russian tea set by the Moscow master Egorov Alexander Sergeevich from 1889 in its original box stood out with its finely chiseled city views (sold for 18,500 euros). Old Russian forms and decorations were taken up in a kovsh made around 1910 by the Kurlyukov company in Moscow with high-quality enamel painting, depicting a boyar and a boyarina (sales price: 45,000 euros). In St. Petersburg, workshops such as that of Pawel Akimov Ovchinnikov produced masterful silverwork, and the goldsmith and jeweler Peter Carl Fabergé is still famous today. His jewelry and decorative objects were among the best international works of their time. The Fabergé company paid the greatest attention to the artistic and craftwork, even in the smallest decorative elements. A Fabergé decorative bowl made of red flashed glass with a silver cockatoo figure was made around 1910 (sales price: 16,000 euros). Around 1908-1917, the master Julius A. Rappoport made an elegant salon clock with mythical creatures made of silver on an onyx base in the Fabergé workshop (proceeds 18,000 euros).
In addition to the Imperial Porcelain Manufactory in St. Petersburg, the private Gardner Manufactory in Moscow, founded in 1765/66, was the most important porcelain manufacturer in Russia, whose high-quality figures, services and decorative objects were also valued by the Tsar's court. Gardner produced several medal services for Empress Catherine II, and exclusive porcelain adorned the tables and rooms of the imperial palaces and the high nobility. Around 1780, Gardner created a historically significant and extremely rare temple from a dessert centerpiece of Tsarina Catherine II of Russia based on Meissen models, whose allegorical figures personify the various regions of her vast empire (proceeds 56,000 euros). In the period between 1810 and 1830, Russian porcelain art created works with Empire and Biedermeier style elements that are characterized by the highest artistic quality. Such objects also include the polychrome, meticulously painted decoration of the Gardine porcelain factory, such as on a pair of large Empire vases from 1820 with a magnificent gold background and idyllic scenes from family life (sold for 29,000 euros).
The best objects of Russian glass art were either commissioned by the Tsar's court or in the Imperial Glass Manufactory in St. Petersburg. Around 1740-1760, an important Russian baroque goblet was made for the exclusive Order of St. Catherine, to which, apart from the Tsarina (as Grand Master), only Grand Duchesses or Princesses of Imperial blood and other high-ranking ladies belonged (proceeds: 5,000 euros). The reception of Emile Gallé's glass objects is reflected in a calabash vase with cut poppy decoration made around 1900 by the Imperial Glass Manufactory in St. Petersburg, which produced such unique pieces for the court and as diplomatic gifts to related German and European royal families (proceeds: 9,500 euros).
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