2: The Repository - Today and Tomorrow

Statues of Asia and Africa

Bartholomeus Eggers

1689

The pair of statues Asia and Africa were probably presented to Peter the Great by King Frederick William I of Prussia during the Emperor's visit to that country in 1716. The Dutch sculptor Bartholomeus Eggers did a lot of work to commissions from the Electors of Brandenburg and was himself in Berlin in 1687-88.

Originally the statues were installed in the Summer Garden. Later they moved to the Taurida Palace and from the mid-19th century they were in the Hermitage collection (the Hanging Garden of the Small Hermitage).

Asia is depicted allegorically in the form of a turbaned boy with a crescent moon on his head. In his hands he holds an incense burner, while a camel's head can be seen at his feet. Africa is represented by a boy with Negroid features. His left hand rests on a club with a lion's skin, while the right holds the trunk of an elephant whose head is seen behind his back. The statues in the inner courtyard are copies; the originals are on display in the Menshikov Palace.