Sale: N08718
Location: New York
04 Nov 2010

 

 

Measurements
length 6 in.

Alternate measurements
15.2 cm

Description

of rounded square shape with gently raised prow, the front with a shaped reserve on which is painted en plein a detail of the bride and groom from Konstantin Makovsky's 1883 A Boyar Wedding Feast of the 17th Century (Hillwood Museum & Gardens, Washington, D.C.), the body and raised handle enameled with stylized vegetal forms in muted tones of blue, green and brown against a white ground, with numerous applied decorative cables and wires, on a spreading foot

Feodor Rückert frequently selected vignettes from the historicist paintings of Konstantin Makovsky (1839-1915), one of the most popular artists in late 19th-century Russia, to decorate the en plein panels of his enameled works. In Makovsky's large and varied oeuvre, highly-detailed compositions celebrating the boyars of pre-Petrine Russia were amongst the most admired and sought after. During a period of history which saw the traditional structure of Russian society change dramatically these works evoked the romance, color, and extravagance of a lost and untouchable age. In this kovsh, as in the version on the lid of the small box also in this sale (lot 33), Rückert has removed the figure of the svakha (matchmaker) shown at the bride's right in the original composition and focused entirely on the touching and romantic scene of the newly-married young couple. That Rückert chose to re-use the same vignette several times suggests that the pieces were purchased and treasured as wedding or anniversary gifts. For a two-handled tray by Rückert depicting the entire composition of A Boyar Wedding Feast, see Sotheby's, New York, April 26, 2006, lot 279. A similar kovsh by Rückert is in the collection of Hillwood Museum & Gardens, see A. Odom and L. Paredes Arend, A Taste for Splendor, Washington, DC, 1998, p. 297.