Items from two furniture sets created for the Anichkov and Winter Palaces in St Petersburg

1817–18

from designs by Carlo Rossi

Workshop of Ivan Baumann

Russia

The two sets of white furniture with gilded ornament created in Baumann's workshop to the designs of the architect Rossi are closely related both stylistically and in terms of date of manufacture. All the pieces are decorated with bas-reliefs of carved and gilded wood that employ palmette, ivy branch and acanthus scroll motifs and harmoniously accord with the structure of the furniture. Divans in the form of boats and armchairs with backs in the shape of stylized lyres are represented in the sets and were characteristic of Russian furniture in the Empire period. The creation of one of the sets was begun in 1817. It was intended for the drawing-room and bedroom of the Anichkov Palace which was being fitted out for the marriage of Grand Duke Nikolai Pavlovich (the future Nicholas I). The second set was produced, probably from the same design, for the south-eastern part of the Winter Palace in preparation for the visit of the Grand Duke's father-in-law, King Frederick William III of Prussia.