Lot n° 137
Estimation :
20000 - 30000
EUR
Rare round cameo in two-layered Kolyvan jasper depicting Tsa - Lot 137
Rare round cameo in two-layered Kolyvan jasper depicting Tsar Alexander I of Russia, in the guise of the deity Rodomysl, showing him in left profile in ancient Russian armor and carrying a shield finely carved with battle scenes and inscribed "1813 Leipzig". The back engraved in Cyrillic "Rodomysl from the ninth to the tenth century". Based on Fedor Petrovich Tolstoy's original model of 1814. Kolyvan Manufactory, St. Petersburg, first half of the 19th century. D. 6.4 cm.
Provenance
Collection Michel Duchamp (26/04/1922-15/02/2011) Sale Beaussant-Léfèvre, March 28, 2018, lot n°161 (sold for €23,750) Private collection.
Related work
Another, later cameo was carved in 1839 by the sculptor Fiodor Golubtsov and is preserved in the Museum of the Kolyvan Hardstone Factory.
History
The model for this medallion was created on the initiative of the sculptor Tolstoy, who became famous for his series of bas-reliefs glorifying the victory over the Napoleonic hordes. Work on the medallions commemorating the Patriotic War of 1812 lasted from 1814 to 1836. Initially a cycle of wax bas-reliefs on slate boards, 21 medallions were produced. In connection with this series of medallions, Tolstoy wrote: "I am Russian and proud of the name. Wanting to share in the glory of my compatriots... I dared to undertake an undertaking that would have embarrassed even the greatest artist. But the unheard-of glory of our time... can encourage even a mediocre talent to pass through the gates of future times. Filled with these sentiments, I dared to depict on medals the most famous events of 1812, 1813, 1814 (...). The unprecedented glory of our times inspired me to pass on to my descendants the slight nuances of feeling that filled me. I wanted to tell them that in our time everyone thought like me, and everyone was happy, bearing the name of a Russian." Julia O. Kagan's "The Classical Hero as Ideal Ruler on Two Early Nineteenth-Century Russian Cameos" mentions a commission for a portrait of Tsar Alexander I as Rodomysl in the summer of 1815. However, 10 years later, the cameo was still not ready, due in part to the production of another cameo depicting Hadrian by the sculptor Vasily Cheremnov (1790-1839), which approached the quality of ours. In 1825, Tsar Alexander I died, and the cameo never arrived on time. It was finally delivered to the Imperial Court in 1827 and kept in Pavlovsk until the Second World War, when it was looted from among other palace objects. Although it seems unlikely that our cameo is the one stolen from Pavlovsk, as it shows some differences from the original medal (Ill. 2), it is highly probable that the Kolyvan factory produced other cameos of equally fine quality, carved in Siberian jasper, testifying to the extraordinary virtuosity of the stone carvers.
Literature
Julia O. Kagan "The Classical Hero as Ideal Ruler on Two Early Nineteenth-Century Russian Cameos", in "Engraved gems Survivals and Revivals", Washington, 1997, pp. 281-291.
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