The statuette “A Hunter” was made at the private porcelain manufactory of Alexei Popov in the village of Gorbunovo, Dmitrov district, Moscow Governorate.

The statuette depicts a man in a wig and a white triangle. The hunter’s hair is pulled back in a ponytail and tied with a burgundy bow. The man is wearing a white vest with a floral pattern, breeches in a multicolored stripe and a blue camisole with yellow lapels and lining. The hunter had a rifle in his right hand, but it has not been preserved to the present day. All the smallest details of the statuette, down to the buttons on the golfs, are carefully worked out.

Until 1917, the figurine was stored in the house of one of the Tetyushi merchant families. After the nationalization of the merchant’s property, the workers and peasants' militia handed it over to the museum.

The Alexei Popov factory was one of the leading private porcelain enterprises in Russia in the first half of the 19th century.

Production at the Popov porcelain factory was based on the enterprise established by Carl Melli in the village of Gorbunovo in 1804. The factory made many different products: table and tea sets, vases, inkwells, inn utensils, porcelain figurines, plot compositions, animal sculptures and other elegant products. Initially, the factory produced sculptures based on the products of the Imperial Porcelain Factory, preferring romantic and gallant scenes, but later began to expand the range of products.

In terms of the standard of painting, the quality of the shard and the whiteness of the porcelain mass, the products of the Popov factory stood on a par with the famous Gardner porcelain, the products of the St. Petersburg Kornilov brothers' factory and the Imperial Porcelain Factory. The enterprise regularly presented its products at Russian art and industrial exhibitions and received honorary awards and medals. In 1833, Alexei Popov was awarded the Order of St. Stanislaus, 4th class, and in 1839 and 1841, his son Dmitry received the Order of St. Anne, 3rd class, and St. Vladimir, 4th class, for participation in industrial exhibitions.

The Popov factory used underglaze and overglaze porcelain painting, developed at the Imperial Porcelain Factory during the reign of Emperor Alexander I. The enterprise used an original palette of colors, which was rich in colors and in exquisite shades.

After the death of Alexei Popov, the factory was inherited by his children Dmitry and Tatiana, and afterwards by Dmitry’s sons. The last owner of the factory in 1875 was the merchant Fomichev. Gypsum molds for manifacturing figures and utensils were sold to the Ikonnikov factory, and paint recipes were sold to the Kornilov brothers' factory.

Полное наименование: Hunter
№ Госкаталога: 6015287
Дата создания: the 19th century
Техника: molding, firing, painting
Размеры: 27×10 cm
Правообладатель изображений: MBI “Tetyushi Region History Museum”
Коллекция: Decorative and applied arts items, household and ethnographic items
Место создания: the Russian Empire

The sculpture “A huntress with a rifle and game” was made at the Alexey Popov porcelain factory in the Moscow Governorate, Dmitrovsky district, in the village of Gorbunovo.

The history of one of the leading porcelain factories in Russia of the 19th century began in 1804. Karl Melly, a former commissioner of the famous Gardner’s porcelain factory, built his own factory. In 1811, seven years later, he decided to sell the factory to Alexey Popov, a merchant of the first guild.

Popov was eager to proceed from copying other people’s works to producing figurines according to original designs. As the factory just started working, the masters generally copied the well-known porcelain samples from France and Germany and they used the samples that were produced at the Imperial Porcelain Factory.

However, during the first decade of factory operation, Popov’s masters invented a new way of making products. The company invented an unusual composition of porcelain with kaolin, developed unique shapes and came up with its own color scheme and style of painting.

The colorful floral compositions in mouchel medallions were a distinctive feature of the art style of the Popov factory. Mushels were placed against the bright background of blue, green, red, yellow colors. Gilding was frequently used in painting.

In 1815, the Northern Post magazine published a note about the then newly founded factory. It reported that the fledging enterprise had attained great skill in producing porcelain goods, which “do honor to the taste of the factory owner.”

To maintain and improve the high artistic level of production, a school for painters and one of the best laboratories of paints were opened at the factory.

In addition to fine figurines and expensive products for aristocracy, the Popov factory produced the best, practical and inexpensive, common tableware: tea pairs, teapots, and saucers for sugar. The overall production was impressive. In 1859, the factory produced 19 thousand teapots, almost 80 thousand teacups, and 15 thousand saucers.

Полное наименование: Figurine “A huntress with a rifle and game”
Дата создания: the 18th century
Размеры: 27.5×10.5×7.5 см
Техника: molding, painting, gilding
№ Госкаталога: 6015262
Коллекция: Decorative and applied arts items, household and ethnographic items
Правообладатель изображений: MBI “Tetyushi Region History Museum”
Место создания: The Russian Empire

The statuette depicting a topless girl with an eagle was made at one of the most famous manufactories in Europe — at the porcelain factory in the town of Meissen. Before the 1917 Bolshevik revolution, this figurine was owned by one of the merchant families of Tetyushi. After the 1917 nationalization, it was confiscated and transferred to the local history museum.

The secret of making hard-paste porcelain was discovered in Saxony by the alchemist Johann Friedrich Böttger and the scientist Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus. Count von Tschirnhaus, the founder of glass factories, was instructed to supervise the activities of Böttger in 1704 since the latter was kept in Meissen as a prisoner by the decree of Augustus the Strong who was the ruler of Saxony.

Augustus the Strong tried to make gold with the help of numerous alchemists. Böttger successfully demonstrated to him the transmutation of mercury into a precious metal and was awarded the title of baron, while receiving the order to multiply what had been done. However, he was in no hurry to carry out the decree, and in 1701 he was taken into custody. He was forced to continue experiments, but Böttger’s work did not bear fruit.

When it became evident that gold could not be made that way, Augustus the Strong decided to open the production of hard-paste porcelain. After two years of joint work, Böttger and von Tschirnhaus succeeded in making a substance which was similar in its characteristics to Chinese porcelain. Its main components were kaolin — china clay — and Chinese stone, a type of feldspar.

At first, the manufactory produced tableware, vases and sets of porcelain. Gradually, the quality of products increased, new technologies for creating porcelain mass and making paints for painting products appeared. Aristocrats and members of the royal family became interested in porcelain made in Meissen. The manufactory expanded its assortment beginning to produce figurines, small sculptural compositions, writing sets. In the painting of products made of Meissen porcelain, floral ornament prevailed: flowers and fruit trees, dried flowers, pomegranates, “bulbous” decor.

Over time, the richest families in Europe and Russia became customers of the manufactory. Connoisseurs of Meissen porcelain were the Russian Empress Catherine II, the Counts Stroganov, the Princes Yusupov, Carl Faberge as well as many European royals.

By 1770, about 40 percent of all Meissen porcelain exports were delivered to Russia. At the end of the 18th century, the manufactory even allocated special days for the production of only those products that were meant to be sold to Russia.

Полное наименование: Girl with an Eagle at Her Feet
Автор: Meissen Porcelain Factory
Дата создания: 19th century
Размеры: 26×9×8.5 cm
Техника: molding, firing, painting
Коллекция: Decorative and applied arts items, household and ethnographic items
Правообладатель изображений: MBI “Tetyushi Region History Museum”
№ Госкаталога: 6015260
Место создания: Meissen, Germany