One of the largest glass enterprises in Russia was the Nikolsko-Bakhmetyevskiy crystalware factory. It was founded in 1764 by a retired military Alexei Bakhmetyev in his estate in Penza province. Three generations of the Bakhmetyev family ran the factory from its foundation until 1884. They had not only commercial, but also patriotic goals — to glorify Russian art of glassmaking. The manufacturer was the leader in manufacturing highly artistic glass and crystal products in the country. It fulfilled commisions of the highest nobility and the Russian Orthodox Church. The Bakhmetyev enterprise was granted the right to apply the Russian coat of arms on its products in 1836 — such a right was granted only to the best manufacturers.
A glass from the collection of the Sergiev Posad State Historical and Art Museum-Reserve belongs to the rare products of this manufacturer.
A unique feature of the glass is that it has two walls, and in the space formed between them there is a model of a manor of the nobility. To create it, the master used natural moss and colored paper. A three-dimensional circular image is placed over the entire surface of the glass as a kind of panorama with a narrative about manorial life.
The panorama shows the manor house, in front of which there is a man and a woman holding hands, possibly the owners of the mansion. Swans are swimming on the pond. Two men are sitting in a boat floating on the water surface, while the nearby a fisherman with a fishing rod is seated on the shore.
The authorship of the glass is attributed to Alexander Vershinin— one of the most famous artists of the Bakhmetyev factory. Being a serf from a family of hereditary glassmakers of the manufacturer, the master mastered several trades. Vershinin was equally good at glassblowing, painting, and also engaged in the design of future products, studied the compositions of glass and methods of processing it.
Similar glasses with the same scene are stored in various Russian and foreign museums. It is believed that there are about twenty of them preserved all over the world. The manufacturing technology of these glasses still remains a mystery. Nowadays, there are only theoretical assumptions about how they could have been created.
A glass from the collection of the Sergiev Posad State Historical and Art Museum-Reserve belongs to the rare products of this manufacturer.
A unique feature of the glass is that it has two walls, and in the space formed between them there is a model of a manor of the nobility. To create it, the master used natural moss and colored paper. A three-dimensional circular image is placed over the entire surface of the glass as a kind of panorama with a narrative about manorial life.
The panorama shows the manor house, in front of which there is a man and a woman holding hands, possibly the owners of the mansion. Swans are swimming on the pond. Two men are sitting in a boat floating on the water surface, while the nearby a fisherman with a fishing rod is seated on the shore.
The authorship of the glass is attributed to Alexander Vershinin— one of the most famous artists of the Bakhmetyev factory. Being a serf from a family of hereditary glassmakers of the manufacturer, the master mastered several trades. Vershinin was equally good at glassblowing, painting, and also engaged in the design of future products, studied the compositions of glass and methods of processing it.
Similar glasses with the same scene are stored in various Russian and foreign museums. It is believed that there are about twenty of them preserved all over the world. The manufacturing technology of these glasses still remains a mystery. Nowadays, there are only theoretical assumptions about how they could have been created.
