Mikhail Fydorovich, the first Romanov czar (reigned: 1613-1645), appears in the center of the bowl wearing the late 13th-early 14th century Monomakh crown. The portrait resembles one that Vassily Zuiev (1870-1917) painted in watercolor on ivory for the Tercentenary Imperial Easter Egg in 1913, now in the Kremlin Armoury in Moscow. The sides of the kovsh are enameled with brown "mound" shapes, alternating with strawberry-like motifs and overlapping circles in black. The remaining filigree is in pale blue with pink and blue blossoms. The flat handle is decorated with abstract floral motifs and checkerboard patterns, all in muted colors.

 

Sale, Sotheby Parke Bernet, November 30, 1978, lot 412 [as showing a portrait of Czar Alexis Mikhailovich]; puchased by Jean M. Riddell (through Leo Kaplan, New York, as agent), Washington, D.C., 1978; by bequest to Walters Art Museum, 2010