$700
Estimate: $2,000 - $3,000
The Art of Russian Lacquer: 19th C Masterworks from the Taylor Collection
Auction: November 29, 2018 10:00:00 AM EDT
Illustrated:
Russian Lacquered Papier-Mâché Boxes: 200 Years of Hand-Painted Miniature Art, LM Antique Art, Thousand Oaks: 2017, pp. 82-85.
Note:
Karl Eduardovich Geftler [Hefftler] (Russian, 1853-1918) was a watercolorist who specialized in architectureal and landcape views. His best works date from the period of 1900-1918, when he exhibited widely, as collaborated with the House of Fabergé. The lid shows his 1891 view "Sphinxes on the Neva Embankment" featuring the famous classical façade of the Academy of Arts, and before it, the classical quay designed by Konstantin Ton in 1832-1834. The steps are ornamented with two massive Egyptian pink granite sphinxes on high pedestal bases. The Sphinxes were brought to Russia from Egypt in 1831, and the hieroglyphic inscriptions on them refer to the pharaoh Amenhotep III (1455-1419 B.C.). One of the inscriptions reads: "Son of Rah, Amenhotep, ruler of Thebes, great builder of monuments rising to the sky, as the four pillars hold up the vault of the heavens."
The side panels of the boxes, all framed in charming tartan (shotlandka technique) borders, show Petropolitans in the costume of the reign of Nicholas I (1825-1855) in their daily activities around the monument.