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Two-Handled Cup and Cover |
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This massive cup with expressive contours and laconic decoration was produced by the London master Paul Crespin.The lower part of the body and the high cover are decorated with gadroons of two kinds.The powerful volutes of the handles are organically "inserted" into the composition, giving it particular solemnity and elegance. The cup was part of the English Service which was ordered for Empress Catherine I, the wife of Peter the Great, and this explains why on one side of the cup the letter Å (for Ekaterina, or Catherine in Russian) has been engraved surrounded by a laurel wreath beneath the Imperial crown. On the other side in the same wreath is the Imperial eagle with the Cross of St Andrew. |
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Copyright © 2011 State Hermitage Museum |
