THE ROSTROPOVICH-VISHNEVSKAYA COLLECTION OF RUSSIAN ART THE ROSTROPOVICH-VISHNEVSKAYA
COLLECTION OF RUSSIAN ART TO BE OFFERED FOR SALE AT SOTHEBY’S LONDON
Gardner
Manufactory quickly established a reputation for fine
porcelain. The off-white colour of the porcelain was not
unlike that of the Imperial Porcelain Manufactory produced
in the mid 18th century, and it was not long before the works
came to the attention of Catherine II (1762-1796). She
commissioned four dinner services decorated with the
Imperial Orders of Saint George, Alexander Nevsky,
Vlaadimir and Saint Andrew, which effectively established
the Manufactory’s international reputation. The Order
Services were used once a year at the Winter Palace, where
the Knights of the orders dined on the feast days of their
saints – the tradition of using them on feast days was maintained up until the reign of Nicholas I (1825-1855)
– with the exception of the four years of Paul I reign (1796-1801). Both lots, each estimated at £10,000-
15,000, still bear the Winter Palace inventory numbers.
A group of six porcelain plates from the Yusupov Service,
Arkhangelskoe porcelain manufactory, dated 1820s, is also
included for sale. Prince Nikolai Borisovich Yusupov was
involved in the production of porcelain throughout his
lifetime and held the positions of Director of the Imperial
Porcelain Manufactory, and senator and head of the
Department of Manufactories. In 1814 he founded the
Yusupov Porcelain Factory on his estate at Arkhangelskoe,
which in contrast with other private porcelain factories clearly
produced articles destined for the aristocracy. The porcelain
was never sold but served as gifts to members of the Imperial
and Yusupov families and to their circle of friends. Arkhangelskoe was not strictly a manufactory, but an
atelier or studio, where the imported white porcelain from Sèvres, Limoges and Popov was decorated. The
six plates (example illustrated above) are finely painted with flowers and each pair is estimated at £15,000-
20,000.
Additional porcelain highlights in the sale include an Imperial Porcelain Manufactory military plaque, period
of Nicholas I (1825-1855), dated 1841, which is finely painted with a landscape scene of a military parade of
officers (estimate: £50,000-70,000) and an Imperial Porcelain Manufactory Kovsh, dated 1913 (estimate:
£40,000-60,000).
Glassware:
Many of the goblets from the glassware in the collection are engraved with Imperial cyphers and portrait
busts for Empresses Elizabeth and Catherine, for example a rare Russian Goblet (illustrated on page seven)
engraved with a monogram for Catherine II beneath Imperial Crown, Russia, circa 1790, which is estimated at
£4,000-6,000. The majority of glassware offered for sale spans from the 1760s through to the early 19th
century and was made in the St Petersburg Glassworks.
Enamelware:
The Rostropovich-Vishnevskaya Collection also boasts a remarkable collection of early Russian enamel works
of art, which mostly date to the late 17th century and were made in the town of Veliki Ustiug. The town was
conveniently located on the main trade route between Moscow and Archangel and thus supported a
flourishing population of tradesmen. The earliest example of cloisonné enamel can be traced back to the 12th
century in Cyprus. By the 17th century the designs and colours grew more varied and intense. The works
