A gold medallion housed in the museum contains strands of hair of Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov and his wife Yekaterina Ilyinichna (nee Bibikova). This item was sold to the museum in 2012, on the bicentennial of the Battle of Borodino, by direct descendants of Kutuzov’s eldest daughter, Praskovya Tolstaya. The medallion was a family heirloom.
Praskovya Mikhailovna Tolstaya (1777–1844) was the eldest daughter of the great commander. In 1797, she married Matvey Fyodorovich Tolstoy, a representative of the branch of the Tolstoy family that did not have a count’s title. He later became a chamberlain, privy councilor and senator.
In 1815, Praskovya Tolstaya’s husband died. In the middle of the 19th century, one of her grandchildren received the right to adopt the surname Golenishchev-Kutuzov-Tolstoy, as Mikhail Kutuzov had no male offspring. Subsequently, this branch of the family tree died, but Kutuzov had descendants along the Tolstoy line that lived in Moscow.
The medallion has a rectangular shape. The two little doors are joined together with continuous hinges in such a way that they open in different directions. On the front side of the right door is an engraved inscription “Until the joyful morning!” and on the reverse side — “The Savior of the Fatherland and our invaluable father died on April 16, 1813 in Saxony in the town of Bunzlau.”
On the front side of the left door is an inscription “The Beloved Mother died on July 23, 1824 in S.P.”. “S.P.” stands for St. Petersburg. On the reverse side, the first owners of the item placed six small bundles of hair: three dark ones were placed vertically, three lighter ones were placed horizontally.
Michael the Archangel is depicted on the
medallion. In his right hand he holds a shield with the
image of the All-Seeing Eye. A round loop is soldered
to the upper part of the central sash, into which a ring
of a larger diameter is inserted.
