ANTIQUE 19thC RUSSIAN SILVER-GILT & ENAMEL BEAKER, OVCHINNIKOV c.1895
19th Century Imperial Russian silver-gilt & cloisonne enamel large beaker, designed upright with a spreading foot, the body profusely decorated with floral motifs in vary-coloured cloisonné enamel within borders of white pellets.
Hallmarked Russian silver 89 (915), Moscow, year 1895, Maker's mark for P. Ovchinnikov.
Reference Number: A7950
DESCRIPTION
Antique late-19th Century Imperial Russian solid silver-gilt & cloisonne enamel large beaker, designed upright with a spreading foot, the body profusely decorated with floral motifs in vary-coloured cloisonné enamel within borders of white pellets. Hallmarked Russian silver 89 (915 standard), Moscow, year 1895, Maker's mark for P. Ovchinnikov, under Imperial Warrant with later French control mark.
Pavel Ovchinnikov (in Russian: Павел Акимович Овчинников) was one of the most famous Russian silversmiths of his time and an exceptional businessman.
He was born in Moscow province in 1830, from a family of modest origins: his father was a serf. Nevertheless Pavel was sent to study in Moscow by Prince Dimitri Volkonski, where he was apprenticed in a jewellery shop.
In 1850 he gained his freedom and three years later he founded his own workshop. In his factory he employed more than a hundred men, and in 1865 he was appointed Court supplier to the future Tzar Alexander III. His works were exhibited at the Pan-Russian manufacturing exhibition in 1865 where he won the gold medal and at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1867. Few years later he was appointed court supplier by the king of Italy Vittorio Emanuele II and the king of Denmark Christian IX.
In 1873 Ovchinnikov opened a branch in St. Petersburg and by 1881 over three hundred people were working for the firm. Understanding the importance of education, he founded a professional school at his factory for training artists and craftsmen in silverware and jewellery.
Pavel died in 1888 and his sons Mikhail, Alexander, Pavel and Nikolai took over the company until 1917, when the firm ceased trading due to the outbreak of the Russian Revolution.
Ovchinnikov is particularly famous for his fine enamel works: he developed different processing techniques (cloisonné, champleé and on watermark) giving them prestige and popularity all over Europe.
Nowadays his works are represented at the most important international museums and royal collections.
CONDITION
In Great Condition - No Damage.
SIZE
Height: 14.5cm
Width: 8.3cm
Weight: 321g