Title of the article:

“A PRECIOUS GIFT TO THE DEAR FRIEND” (A DISH PRESENTED TO THE FRENCH PRESIDENT E. LOUBET ON BEHALF OF THE CITY OF MOSCOW)

Author(s):

Yudin, M.O.

Information about the author/authors

Mikhail O. Yudin — PhD in Art, Research Institute of Theory and History of Fine Arts of the Russian Academy of Arts, Prechistenka St., 21, 119034 Moscow, Russia.
ORCID ID: https://orcid. org/0009‑0005‑7872‑7669
E-mail: m_judin@mail.ru

Section

History of Arts

Year

2024

Volume

Vol. 73

Pages

pp. 261–272

Received

May 11, 2023

Approved after reviewing

April 03, 2024

Date of publication

September 25, 2024

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37816/2073-9567-2024-73-261-272

Index UDK

739.1, 739.2

Index BBK

85.125

Abstract

The paper addresses a unique monument of political rapprochement between Russia and France at the end of the 19th – beginning of the 20th century — a silver dish presented by the city of Moscow to the French President Emil Loubet during his visit to Russia in 1902. Along with its memorial and historical significance, the dish has outstanding artistic merits. The second half of the 19th – early 20th centuries is rightly considered the period of the highest rise of domestic jewelry art, its triumphant entry into the international art market. The works of Russian silverware masters of this time combined the highest technical and artistic level of execution. The involvement of professional artists in the production of such goods greatly contributed to the latter. A vivid example of this is the dish under study. It was made at the Ovchinnikov`s firm — one of the most famous domestic gold-silver enterprises — according to the sketch of V.M.Vasnetsov.

The study provides a detailed art history analysis of this work, drawing on documentary and material sources. It also examines a number of other works by V.M.Vasnetsov, which not only allowed for a detailed examination of a little-studied page in the work of a famous Russian artist but also identified a number of trends characteristic of the entire decorative arts of the period under review.

Keywords

Russian Jewelry Art of the Early 20th Century, V.M. Vasnetsov, Ovchinnikov Gold-silver Firm, Presentation Dish, Image of St. George, Russian-French Alliance, French President E. Loubet, Moscow City Duma.

Reference

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Plotnikova, I.V. “O religioznoi zhivopisi Vasnetsova vo Vladimirskom sobore v Kieve” [“About Vasnetsov's Religious Painting in St. Vladimir Cathedral in Kiev”]. Viktor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov (1848–1926). Sbornik materialov nauchnoi  konferentsii [Viktor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov (1848–1926). Collection of Proceedings of the Scientific Conference] Moscow, GTG Publ., 1994, pp. 47–62. (In Russ.) 

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