One of the oldest and the most valuable showpieces at the exhibition is the faience dinnerware set “Monument to Prince Vorontsov”. It was created in the 1880-1890s at the Volkhov porcelain and faience factory of I. E Kuznetsov.
Until the beginning of the 20th century, the enterprise produced mainly faience tableware. The items were fired only once and at lower temperatures than porcelain, so these items were considered to be harder. Well-preserved faience dishes of the 19th century are rarely seen in museums because this material had a porous structure and absorbed water. As a result, small cracks formed on the surface of the dishes.
To paint faience dishes, factory artisans used enamel and glaze. They painted the Odessa Monument to Prince Mikhail Vorontsov in the center of the dish, surrounded along the edges by four images with the views of the city, decorated with floral pattern.
Mikhail Vorontsov was a count, a prince, a government leader, a participant of the Russo-French and Russo-Turkish wars, a hero of the Patriotic War of 1812. He was born in 1782 in St. Petersburg, but spent his childhood and youth with his father in London, where he received an excellent education.
In 1801, Vorontsov returned to St. Petersburg and decided to become a member of the military; he entered the service in the Preobrazhensky regiment as a poruchik (lieutenant). Then the count became the Novorossiysk governor, and later he went to serve in the Caucasus. Over the years, he became the commander of all the military forces in the region, and was awarded the prince title there. In 1856, Vorontsov started to feel increasingly sick and asked Nicholas I to dismiss him. The emperor met his request. The count went to the springs in Tiflis (modern Tbilisi), and then to the Black Sea. Mikhail Vorontsov died on November 6, 1856, in Odessa.
The monument to Vorontsov was opened on Cathedral Square in 1863 to commemorate the count’s input into the improvement of the urban environment — he cared about supplying Odessa with good water, paving the streets, creating parks and gardens. The memory of Count Vorontsov is still alive in the Caucasus in the form of a soldier’s proverb, “It is high to God, it is far to the tsar, and Vorontsov is dead”.
Until the beginning of the 20th century, the enterprise produced mainly faience tableware. The items were fired only once and at lower temperatures than porcelain, so these items were considered to be harder. Well-preserved faience dishes of the 19th century are rarely seen in museums because this material had a porous structure and absorbed water. As a result, small cracks formed on the surface of the dishes.
To paint faience dishes, factory artisans used enamel and glaze. They painted the Odessa Monument to Prince Mikhail Vorontsov in the center of the dish, surrounded along the edges by four images with the views of the city, decorated with floral pattern.
Mikhail Vorontsov was a count, a prince, a government leader, a participant of the Russo-French and Russo-Turkish wars, a hero of the Patriotic War of 1812. He was born in 1782 in St. Petersburg, but spent his childhood and youth with his father in London, where he received an excellent education.
In 1801, Vorontsov returned to St. Petersburg and decided to become a member of the military; he entered the service in the Preobrazhensky regiment as a poruchik (lieutenant). Then the count became the Novorossiysk governor, and later he went to serve in the Caucasus. Over the years, he became the commander of all the military forces in the region, and was awarded the prince title there. In 1856, Vorontsov started to feel increasingly sick and asked Nicholas I to dismiss him. The emperor met his request. The count went to the springs in Tiflis (modern Tbilisi), and then to the Black Sea. Mikhail Vorontsov died on November 6, 1856, in Odessa.
The monument to Vorontsov was opened on Cathedral Square in 1863 to commemorate the count’s input into the improvement of the urban environment — he cared about supplying Odessa with good water, paving the streets, creating parks and gardens. The memory of Count Vorontsov is still alive in the Caucasus in the form of a soldier’s proverb, “It is high to God, it is far to the tsar, and Vorontsov is dead”.
