The State Hermitage Museum: Exhibitions

From the jewellery collection of Catherine the Great

This virtual exhibition features masterpieces of the jeweller's art from the Hermitage that were once part of what was called the Imperial Museum Gallery of Jewellery. All the items included were produced by famous European craftsmen in the time of Catherine the Great. Catherine's rise to power in 1762 marked the beginning of a new phase in the collecting of jeweller's works. Collecting generally came into fashion at that time and was the pastime not only of art lovers but of "everyone who had the means" and that in itself breathed more life into the art market. Sty Petersburg jewellers too found themselves called upon to respond to the growing demand. In the words of William Cox, a foreigner who visited the Russian capital in 1778 the wealth and opulence of the Russian court exceeded the most extravagant descriptions. Traces of the old Asiatic splendour blended with European refinement. The sumptuousness and brilliance of the court costumes and the abundance of precious stones leave the splendour of other European courts far behind." The jeweller's art in St Petersburg took shape in a different way to many Russian and European artistic centres. Here numerous national artistic schools existed at once. As well as Russian craftsmen who had come to the capital from Moscow and various other cities where there were already established traditions of working with gold and silver, many of their colleagues from different corners of Europe were at work in the city. Their work was based on the artistic principles and technical achievements, skills and knowledge they had mastered in their homelands. They also had to take into consideration the interests of their clients. The Russian court's orientation on European aesthetic tastes and the resultant recruitment of a large number of foreign jewellers were the determining factors in shaping the art in St Petersburg. The works of these expatriates make up a significant portion of the Hermitage collection that is dominated by items produced in Catherine's time.

Snuff-box with portraits of Grand Dukes
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