A porcelain cache-pot vase

Imperial Porcelain Factory, St. Petersburg, Period of Nicholas II, dated 1911

Footnotes

Provenance
The Winter Palace antiques shop, London
Purchased from the above c. 1970-1980s by the present owner, a descendant of the Russian writer and publisher, Faddei Bulgarin (1789-1859)


Adopted by the Imperial Porcelain Factory in the 19th century from the Danish school, the technique of underglaze painting on porcelain vases reached its peak between the years of 1900 and 1916. The dominating influence of the symbolist aesthetics reflected in a mesmerizing series of hand-painted porcelain vases decorated with landscape, floral and animal motifs which constituted the highlights of the factory production of the time. In the 1910s, the beauty of northern Russian landscape became the central theme of the works by factory artists like A. Lapshin, G. Zimin, A. Bolshakov, N. Daladugin, V. Klenovskaya. The subtle undertones of fleeting seasonal landscapes and pale northern skies barely touched by the shades of sunset and delicate forms of the northern vegetation perfectly complemented the very nature of the underglaze technique free of saturated colours and sharp contrasts. Drawing inspiration from the pristine landscapes of Finland, Karelia and the outskirts of St. Petersburg sketched by the factory artists, each porcelain painting was unique. Examples of vases created by the factory in a variety of simple forms include the notable Deep River vase from the Anichkov Palace, 1910 (Bonhams, Russian art, 28 November 2018, lot 101a), Birch stems, 1913 (State Hermitage, http://collections.hermitage.ru/entity/OBJECT/1006238), Vase with a landscape, 1914 (State Historical Museum, https://catalog.shm.ru/entity/OBJECT/95867), a vase with a lake view (The Peterhof State Museum and Reserve, Imperial Porcelain Factory 1744-1904, St. Peterburg, 2008, p. 633). An example of a vase shaped as cache-pot, such as the present, painted with a winter lake view was at Sotheby's Paris, Vue Sur La Riviera – La Villa D'un Collectionneur, 25 June 2019, lot 9.

Shaped as a cache-pot, the offered vase is an exquisite example of these artistic achievements. Beautifully painted in a fine palette of delicate blues, greens, greys, and peach, with an expanding view of cascading hills and valleys covered in snow and rare birch and spruce trees and other vegetation and set against the depth of the sunset skies, it presents an excellent sense of perspective and unity of the porcelain painting and form. The present vase was acquired from the famous Winter Palace Shop at Kensington Church Street. Established by an American art dealer Nicholas Lynn and a former Russian aristocrat, trader and author Margot Tracey, the antiques shop specialized in trading Russian historic artworks, akin to the Paris-based À la Vielle Cité and Popoff & Co. Maintaining close ties with the families of impoverished Russian aristocrats, the gallery offered an outstanding selection of Russian fine art, decorative objects and Imperial porcelain with exceptional provenance which garnered interest from international collectors with an appreciation of Russian art.