Maria Klavdievna Tenisheva created this plate to commemorate the transfer of keys of her Smolensk Museum of Russian Heritage to the director of the Moscow Institute of Archaeology.

The plate is decorated in the champlevé technique with multicolored enamels on a golden background. The composition in the upper part of the plate features a medallion with the coat of arms of Smolensk framed by an oak wreath intertwined with a blue ribbon. Fantastic plants with dragon heads flank the coat of arms. The space below features a text written in an elegant font in red and black enamel. Princess Tenisheva wrote as follows,

The museum council was immediately formed: Maria Klavdievna Tenisheva was elected Life Chairperson; Ekaterina Konstantinovna Svyatopolk-Chetvertinskaya, Alexander Ivanovich Uspensky, Nikolai Konstantinovich Rerikh (Nicholas Roerich), Ekaterina Nikolayevna Kletnova became members. Ivan Fyodorovich Barshchevsky was appointed its curator.

At the end of September 1911, an official act of transfer of the museum and the land with all the buildings was signed by a notary in St. Petersburg.

The historian Vasily Timofeevich Georgievsky praised the museum as follows,

After the transfer of the museum, Princess Maria Klavdievna Tenisheva was praised by the entire country. The City Duma appreciated the donor’s regards for the city of Smolensk and unanimously decided:

In the summer of 1912, Princess Tenisheva was honored in Moscow at the Institute of Archaeology. She was elected an honorary member of the Institute. Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich said,