This porcelain box was made at the French Sevres Factory around 1755. It entered the museum as part of the confiscated property of the repressed Nikita Melikov in 1938.

The box is covered with “royal blue” color. In the 1750s, this color was very popular with high society. It was based on bleu celeste, a fashionable turquoise paint that was invented in 1753.

The lid of the item is crowned with a figurine of putti, the so-called image of a pretty little boy, who was often depicted in Renaissance paintings and products made in the Baroque and Rococo style. The figure of the boy, as well as the frame of the legs and the lid of the casket are made of white metal, most likely silver.

The body of the box is decorated with a picturesque polychrome painting depicting three cupids. Bright colors, including another fashionable color at that time, “pink Pompadour” were used in the miniature.

There is a stamp specific for the early items of the Sevres Factory at the bottom of the box. Experts suggest that the year 1755 is indicated on it.

In the “royal period”, during the reign of King Louis XV, masters indicated the dates of items’ production on the stamps of Sevres porcelain items. To do this, they used not only numbers, but also letters, which were placed in the center of the Louis XV monogram on a product. Each letter corresponded to a specific year. This marking has been preserved to this day only on items made of soft “paste”, a special kind of soft porcelain.

Porcelain production in France began with the support of King Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour in 1740, at the Vincennes Castle. Over time, the city of Vincennes developed around it. Today it is the territory of the southeastern suburbs of Paris.

In 1756, the factory was moved to Sevres, near the Bellevue Palace, where Madame de Pompadour lived. Three years later, the Sevres factory acquired the status of a royal manufactory.

Sevres masters had been working with soft porcelain, invented by French ceramists back in the 17th century, since the inception of the factory. Soft porcelain and its glaze differed from hard porcelain in composition and, as a result, lower firing temperature. Thanks to this, the colors did not fade, and the palette of used colors was the richest.

Полное наименование: Porcelain box
Дата создания: 1755
Техника: porcelain, painting, silver, casting
Место создания: France
Коллекция: Murom History and Art Museum
Правообладатель изображений: Murom History and Art Museum
Размеры: 23×26.5×19 cm

The exhibition presents a snuffbox made in Veliky Ustyug in 1786. It entered the museum’s collection in 1938 from the property of the repressed Nikita Melikov.

The item is minted from silver and decorated with a profile portrait of Empress Catherine the Great. The picture is made in relief, as was customary in medallion art. Catherine II is portrayed in a suit of armor. Above her profile, there is a signature: “B. M. Catherine II. Empress and Sovereign of All Russia.” The portrait is gilded all round, and bows and order ribbons are painted on the background in niello technique.

Such an image of Catherine II was very popular. Researchers believe that the portrait of the Empress on this snuffbox dates back to exactly the same image on a gold snuffbox made by the French master Jean-Pierre Adore in 1774. Today, it is kept in the State Historical Museum in Moscow.

The Murom Museum collection has another item with a portrait of Catherine II in the same image. It is a late 18th century porcelain jug with a lid from the factory of Franz Gardner.

In the 16th century, snuffing tobacco began to be shipped from America to other countries. Since many people could not tolerate tobacco smoke, snuff appeared. It was stored in special small boxes that fit in a pocket. Gradually snuffboxes evolved from mere snuff storage devices into true works of art, which emphasized their wearer’s high status. Snuffboxes were made of gold, silver, tortoise shell or aluminum, which was considered an expensive metal at the time. The pieces were inlaid with precious stones or decorated with portrait miniatures on enamel.

In the 18th century, the fashion for snuffing tobacco came to Russia from European countries. At that time, precious snuffboxes made of porcelain, gold and silver became popular. It is known that Catherine the Great herself collected such snuffboxes, and her collection was quite large.

Silver nielloing, which is used on the snuffbox from the museum’s collection, was established in Veliky Ustyug as early as the 17th century and reached its heyday in the 18th century. Ustyug works were markedly influenced by the Baroque style known in Europe at that time. Ustyug masters always decorated their characteristic complex narrative compositions with a magnificent frame.

But in the 1780s their works were dominated by subjects typical of strict classicism. In keeping with the new canons, snuffboxes were decorated in a more restrained style, often using antique motifs and almost documentary images of cities and even geographical maps. The portrait of Catherine II on the snuffbox in the museum collection is also created in the style of classicism.

Полное наименование: Snuffbox
Дата создания: 1786
Техника: silver, embossing, casting, niello, gilding
Место создания: Russia, Veliky Ustyug
Коллекция: Murom History and Art Museum
Правообладатель изображений: Murom History and Art Museum
Размеры: 10,4×10,4×3,1 cm