The waste paper basket belonged to Nikolay Alexeyevich Nekrasov. During the poet’s lifetime, it was in his apartment in Saint Petersburg on Liteiny Prospekt.
After the death of Nikolay Alexeyevich, the waste
paper basket was bought from his widow Zinaida Nikolaevna by his brother Fyodor
Alexeyevich Nekrasov and transported to Karabikha. According to the memories of
the poet’s niece Vera Fyodorovna Nekrasova, the basket stood in the study of
the Manor House,
Here in the partition between the fireplace and the window there was a desk, an armchair and a waste paper basket…
The basket is also present in the photograph made in 1904 showing the study of the house’s master.
The basket rests on a wide foot with an octagonal base. It has the shape of a vase. Eight sides with profiled cornices at the bottom and top are separated by laths. Inside each facet, on a fabric background, there is a carved wooden decorative piece in the form of a two-headed griffin, holding a coat of arms with the initials “NN” in the center. Similar monograms can be found on many of the poet’s personal belongings.
He dressed foppishly and
ordered his clothes and underwear from the best makers, and he had his own, as
he jokingly said, ‘court suppliers’ for all other items. As soon as he could
find a spare hour or two… we would go to ‘accrue things’.
Nekrasov considered his personal belongings to be of special importance.
The waste paper basket was an important interior item for a study in Russia in the mid-19th century. Its design had to be matched with that of other household items: the desk, armchair, bookcases, writing cabinet and others.
Here is the new mail. What a huge load of work! How can I escape from the letters and parcels? In the provinces the people are demanding and fervent: I could hardly meet the deadline of the first day of the month with the journal. I’m inundated with letters — it’s a bore and a ruin!
After the nationalization of the estate in 1919, the waste paper basket was handed over to the Yaroslavl Museum of Local Lore. This exhibit returned to Karabikha when the local museum was established in 1947.
Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation
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