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The history of St. Petersburg porcelain spans two and a half centuries.
Now its achievements may be seen in the Hermitage's new exhibition, opened
in the Lomonosov Porcelain Works' Museum of Porcelain. An obscure collection with restricted access has evolved into a modern museum supported by cutting-edge technologies. State-of-the-art cases display about 600 exhibits. The first room shows the history of the unique collection, which has been put together in the course of two and a half centuries. The collection was born when the first Russian porcelain production was founded in St. Petersburg in 1744. One hundred years later, Emperor Nicholas I ordered the creation of the Imperial Porcelain Works' museum, which received some rare pieces from the Winter Palace and other Imperial residences. Specimens of products purveyed to the Imperial Court were annually added to the collection. Since the end of the 19th century, all original creations were executed in two copies, one of which was intended for the museum. Products of Russian and European works were purchased on a permanent basis. Hundreds of books, albums, prints, paintings, drawings and photographs were acquired for the museum's library. In 1890, when the Imperial glass and porcelain works were merged, the museum acquired a collection of glass, which, along with carved glass of the European companies Emile Galle, Daum brothers, L.C. Tiffany and Lotz, included creations of Russian masters. The museum also displayed ancient ceramics, Italian majolica and Chinese porcelain. Products of private Russian works were showcased alongside the famed creations of Sevres, Meissen, Berlin and Vienna received as gifts from visiting guests or purchased by the works' emissaries abroad. The exhibition focuses on the Imperial period in the Porcelain Works' history and traces the production evolution from the first laboratory specimens and replicas to the grandiose tableware ensembles, vases and sculptural compositions of the ages of classicism, historicism and art nouveau. The Imperial Works represented Russia at international exhibitions with a great success. The Romanov set of tableware designed by W. Bosset, Siberian Flora pieces painted by F.I. Krasovsky, and the glass tondo with a copy of Rafael's Madonna Alba executed by P. Vasilyev were showed at the 1862 London exhibition. The collection's largest vase with an image of Rafael's St George painted by N.A. Kirsanov was intended for the Hague exhibition of 1914, which was canceled because of the war. Rare exhibits include a unique bouquet of exquisite flowers molded by P.U. Ivanov (1850) and a monumental porcelain door with a colorful painting reproducing Pompeii frescos (1844). In the next year, the museum will open an exhibition of the 20th century porcelain including works by S.V. Chekhonin, N.Ya. Danko, A.V. Shchekotikhina-Pototskaya, R.F. Wilde, Z.V. Kobyletskaya and many other authors of "mass porcelain", which has acquired an elite status. Its collecting and fabrication for export were started in the 1920s. Since 1936, the works' products bear the new brand LFZ, which remains a hallmark of high skill and quality. While adding new items to its range of products on an annual basis, Lomonosov fabricates collections of replicas of the creations preserved in its museum. |
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Copyright © 2006 State Hermitage Museum |
