1999 marked the 200th anniversary of the birth of Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin. The Red Giant factory in Nikolsk commemorated this date by a number of glass and crystal products. One of them was a decorative composition with the laconic title “Genius”. It was designed by Viktor Vasilievich Ezhov, and the team of glass blowers led by Alexey Ivanovich Koyakov performed the task.
Three different-sized bottles are made of three-layer crystal — colorless, milky and purple. Spherical stoppers are made of colorless crystal. Sergey Nikolaevich Ezhov and Igor Evgenievich Svinkin cut the wide and diamond-shaped facets.
The images in medallions on the body of each bottle are dedicated to the significant date. The largest bottle features a bust view portrait of Pushkin, the middle-sized one — a quote from his poem “Exegi Monumentum”: “In centuries to come I shall be loved by the people”, while the smallest bottle shows a symbolic image of a quill and a burning candle.
The “Portrait of Alexander Pushkin”, painted by Vasily Andreevich Tropinin in 1827, was
used as the source of the medallion. According to one version, the painting was
commissioned by Pushkin’s friend Sergey Alexandrovich Sobolevsky, who wished to have a
portrait of the poet at home. However, legend has it that the canvases were replaced, and the
client received only a copy of the painting. The original was discovered at the money changer’s in the 1850s by Prince Mikhail Obolensky, Director of the Moscow Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.Tropinin identified his work and put the canvas in order: he
considered it unethical to make any significant changes since the poet had already been dead.
All images in the medallions are made using the so-called Gallé technique. This is a complex deep etching technique discovered by the French glass innovator Émile Gallé at the end of the 19th century. To produce an image, the artist covered the product with wax or mastic, cut through the design, and then removed several layers of glass with acid. The acid was applied with free brush strokes, which made it possible to obtain smooth and natural color transitions.
In the 1990s, Lyudmila Ezhova was the last of the factory artisans working in the Gallé style at the Red Giant factory.
Three different-sized bottles are made of three-layer crystal — colorless, milky and purple. Spherical stoppers are made of colorless crystal. Sergey Nikolaevich Ezhov and Igor Evgenievich Svinkin cut the wide and diamond-shaped facets.
The images in medallions on the body of each bottle are dedicated to the significant date. The largest bottle features a bust view portrait of Pushkin, the middle-sized one — a quote from his poem “Exegi Monumentum”: “In centuries to come I shall be loved by the people”, while the smallest bottle shows a symbolic image of a quill and a burning candle.
The “Portrait of Alexander Pushkin”, painted by Vasily Andreevich Tropinin in 1827, was
used as the source of the medallion. According to one version, the painting was
commissioned by Pushkin’s friend Sergey Alexandrovich Sobolevsky, who wished to have a
portrait of the poet at home. However, legend has it that the canvases were replaced, and the
client received only a copy of the painting. The original was discovered at the money changer’s in the 1850s by Prince Mikhail Obolensky, Director of the Moscow Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.Tropinin identified his work and put the canvas in order: he
considered it unethical to make any significant changes since the poet had already been dead.
All images in the medallions are made using the so-called Gallé technique. This is a complex deep etching technique discovered by the French glass innovator Émile Gallé at the end of the 19th century. To produce an image, the artist covered the product with wax or mastic, cut through the design, and then removed several layers of glass with acid. The acid was applied with free brush strokes, which made it possible to obtain smooth and natural color transitions.
In the 1990s, Lyudmila Ezhova was the last of the factory artisans working in the Gallé style at the Red Giant factory.
