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拍品专文
Intricately designed as a flowing fountain with cascades of crystal drops, the present chandelier is a rare survival of the outstanding pieces of neoclassical decorative arts produced in Russia in the late 18th century. Necessary decorative focal-points in any interior, these so-called 'Catherine' chandeliers differed from continental examples in their delicacy, lightness and innovative design. These hugely expensive creations were the preserve of the uppermost strata of society: in this case, the Imperial family. The present chandelier probably belongs to a group of chandeliers supplied to the Imperial household by the Russian bronzier Johann Zekh for Tsar Paul I’s new residence in St. Petersburg, St. Michael’s Castle. Upon his death, it is thought to have been moved to the palace of Pavlovsk, where it was photographed hanging in the bedroom of the dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna. The chandelier remained at Pavlovsk until sold by the Bolshevik government in the aftermath of the revolution in 1917.
JOHANN ZEKH
Thanks to the comprehensive research of Igor Sytchev (conservator of decorative bronzes at the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg) a number of repeated characteristics can now be firmly associated with specific artists, enabling the establishment of well-founded attributions. In its overall design and use of distinctive ruby glass, this chandelier can firmly be attributed to the oeuvre of Johann Zekh of St. Petersburg. A native of Geman origin, Zekh established his workshop in the Russian capital in 1795, where he appears listed in the records of the guild of bronziers. By the late 1790s, his name became synonymous with the creation of the most outstanding chandeliers in Russia, noted in the St. Petersburg Journal as one of the greatest masters of the specialty.
Following his delivery of a lantern-chandelier in 1796 for the apartments of the grand-duke Alexander Pavlovitch at the Winter Palace, he was awarded his second commission by the Imperial Cabinet (on 13 October of the same year), to supply eight monumental chandeliers for the throne room (known as the salle Saint-Georges). By the time of Empress Catherine’s death in November 1796, three such chandeliers had been completed and accepted by her successor Tsar Paul I, who had them moved to the St. Michael’s Castle (his new residence in the city), and then to the palace at Tsarskoie Selo, where the chandeliers remain today.
ZEKH’S COMMISSIONS FOR ST. MICHAEL’S CASTLE
Zekh is known to have supplied a total of 21 chandeliers of 14 different models, and 6 lanterns of varying sizes for Tsar Paul I’s St. Michael’s Castle, built between 1798 and 1801 and decorated in the most luxurious and advanced taste. Zekh chandeliers followed different designs: some had shafts in coloured glass, others in cut-crystal in the English manner, and others in white opaline glass reminiscent of porcelain, intricately hung with flower chains and drops (see illustrated). It is interesting to note that despite the Emperor’s extensive commissions of French decorative bronzes for his new residence, which included 55 clocks, 100 pairs of candelabra and 28 ‘meubles d’apparat’ delivered in twelve instalments between June 1798 and October 1799, only five chandeliers and two lanterns were commissioned from France. This demonstrates the recognized quality and high esteem held for Russian chandeliers, which were deemed capable of rivalling the finest foreign productions.
THE FATE OF WORKS OF ART FROM ST. MICHAEL’S CASTLE
Following the assassination of her husband, Maria Feodorovna (1759-1828) had the contents of St. Michael’s Castle dispersed among the other Imperial residences, particularly the palace of Pavlovsk, her official residence until her death in 1828. A number of the important chandeliers brought over from St. Michael’s Castle at this time are still conserved at Pavlovsk today, such as the throne room chandelier (now in the Italian Salon), a number of smaller chandeliers from the apartments of Alexander Pavlovitch (now in the Empress’ bedroom), and a further chandelier of the same model as those found in the Winter Palace (now in the ballroom).
The present chandelier shares many of the same features as the other examples by Zekh conserved at Pavlovsk: the enormous crystal ‘fountain’ to the upper section; the tier of finely-cut triangular stems surmounted by small cascades; the central rosette contained within a demi-lune; the crystal garlands hanging from the lower corona; and perhaps most strikingly, the finely-chased ormolu sections with foliate motifs, so characteristic of Zekh’s oeuvre. The central shaft, which delicately combines a large ruby glass bowl at the base of the upper ‘fountain’ with exquisite colourless cut-glass bulbs, is comparable to the shaft of the magnificent chandelier delivered to Count Nikolai Petrovitxh Cheremetev for his palace of Fontanka, in St. Petersburg (now in Ostankino Palace).
'CATHERINE’ CHANDELIERS
The period of production for ‘Catherine’ chandeliers, as these uniquely original models were known, was relatively short, lasting some 15 years. Their comparatively late appearance in the last quarter of the 18th century, during the reign of Catherine II (whose name they take), can be explained by the popularity of richly painted-ceilings in Russian interiors. A vestige of the Baroque-style promoted by the architect Rastrelli during the reign of Empress Elizabeth I (1709-1762), these magnificent compositions would have jarred with large-scale chandeliers, which were thus eschewed in favour of multi-branch wall-lights and girandoles integrated typically in boiseries. It was only with the arrival of architect Giacomo Quarenghi, that demand for chandeliers took-off in Russia. His fashionable neoclassical interiors required sober ceilings, exclusively decorated with friezes and classical ornaments but anchored with an impressive chandelier as a focal point. This more sober aesthetic facilitated the birth of the so-called 'Catherine' model, which existed in two basic forms: chandeliers with a load-bearing central shaft with tiers of rings issuing branches, and the so-called basket-chandeliers with cascades of drops and central coloured glass elements (as the present example).
THE RUSSIAN ART OF CHANDELIER-MAKING
The production of chandeliers was inextricably linked to the production of bronze. In the 18th century, the demand for luxury objects in the latest fashion grew considerably as St. Petersburg developed into Russia’s ‘window into Europe’. Yet despite Catherine the Great’s voracious appetite for the finest pieces of art from France, Germany and Britain, it proved impossible – for monetary, geographic and logistical reasons – to exclusively decorate the ever-growing number of imperial and aristocratic houses of the city with European productions. Equally, Russian authorities were eager to demonstrate how the ‘new Russia’ could rid herself of the artistic and commercial influence that had hitherto shackled her to the course determined by the nations of Western Europe. Thus, from the late 18th century, Russia progressively grew its capabilities to satisfy the needs of her internal demand.
In 1769, a new programme was established at the Academy of fine arts of St. Petersburg teaching students the techniques of ‘modelling, casting, and chasing’. Directed by the French bronziers Antoine Simon and Edme Gastecloux, this initiative bore its fruits in 1778 with the creation of the Imperial Bronze Manufactury, which was composed almost in its entirety by Russian natives. Demand from the Manufactory, however, was slow to begin, and only gained momentum following an Imperial decree of 1786 which forbade the import of foreign productions. In a further attempt to improve the quality of locally-produced bronzes (which remained low), a new edict was passed to allow foreign artisans to join and, on occasion, establish their own local workshops. About a dozen such enterprises located around Bolchaia Morskaia Street, are mentioned in the 1790s. Most of these were of German origin, such as Johann Zekh, Johann Fischer, and Karl Gottfried Dreyer.
EXTRAVAGANT CREATIONS
Period records reveal the great expense of these lavish late 18th century chandeliers. In 1797, for example, the intendant of count Nikolai Petrovitch Cheremetev reported seeing two eighteen-light chandeliers with ruby coloured glass shafts at 2,5 archines high (approximately 180 cm.) in the workshop of Karl Gottfried Dreyer, for the exorbitant price of 2000 roubles. Higher still, the great chandeliers commissioned in 1794 for the Winter Palace bedroom of the grand-duke Alexander Pavlovitch (the future Tsar Alexander I) amounted to 3000 roubles each. Executed by the St. Petersburg maker Iakov Norberg, their high price was the result of their material, each of the nine branches being in solid ormolu as opposed to the more common technique of stamped metal. The chandeliers produced by Zekh for the Winter Palace in 1796 had a unit price of 4000 rubles, due to their unusually large size. The highest recorded price, however, was for the chandelier commissioned from Dreyer for St. Michael’s Castle, at a price of 9000 rubles but never delivered as a result of the death Paul I’s, and so unknown.
COLOURED GLASS
While influenced by neoclassical English chandeliers, the distinguishing feature of chandeliers produced in Russia were the exquisite coloured glass elements which they incorporated. These were typically one of three colours: cobalt blue (like those in the Winter Palace), ruby red (as the present chandelier) or emerald green. These polychrome sections were mostly produced in the Imperial Glassworks of St. Petersburg, which in 1792 employed more than 200 workers. In 1791, Fischer supplied a set of four chandeliers to the palace of count Alexander Sergueievitch Stroganov, all with a ruby red bowls. The airy and comparatively lighter design of these proved highly popular among his Russian clientele, and other makers soon followed suit.
THE PAVLOVSK PROVENANCE
Upon Maria Feodorovna’s death, Pavlovsk descended to her son, Grand-duke Constantin Pavlovitch, who lived there until his passing in 1831. The palace then passed to his nephew, grand-duke Constantin Nikolaievitch, Tsar Nicholas I’s son. During this time, the apartments occupied by his grandparents Paul I and Maria Feodorovna (where our present chandelier hung) acquired a quasi-memorial status. Considered more as a museum than a functional living space, no major modifications were carried out in the decades that followed, which ensured the conservation of the majority of its late 18th century furnishings until the Russian Revolution in 1917.
The present chandelier belongs to a larger group of objects that left Pavlovsk in the aftermath of the Revolution, sold by the ruling Bolshevik government to fund new economic ventures. The chandelier was then purchased by George Bemberg (1892-1970), scion of an important dynasty of European industrialist and close friend of Pablo Picasso (whose eldest son Paulo was his godson). One of their shared passions was their love for Russian culture and women; just as Pablo married his wife Olga, Bamberg lost his first Russian wife. The children from his second marriage to Marie Vrubova, another Russian native, gave issue to three children: Marie, Olga and Irene, who inherited the chandelier. The chandelier was then sold at Christie’s Paris on November 17 2010, lot 323 (€601,000).
We are grateful to Emmanuel Ducamp, author of this note. He is an art historian and author of various publications on works of art in Russian collections.
JOHANN ZEKH
Thanks to the comprehensive research of Igor Sytchev (conservator of decorative bronzes at the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg) a number of repeated characteristics can now be firmly associated with specific artists, enabling the establishment of well-founded attributions. In its overall design and use of distinctive ruby glass, this chandelier can firmly be attributed to the oeuvre of Johann Zekh of St. Petersburg. A native of Geman origin, Zekh established his workshop in the Russian capital in 1795, where he appears listed in the records of the guild of bronziers. By the late 1790s, his name became synonymous with the creation of the most outstanding chandeliers in Russia, noted in the St. Petersburg Journal as one of the greatest masters of the specialty.
Following his delivery of a lantern-chandelier in 1796 for the apartments of the grand-duke Alexander Pavlovitch at the Winter Palace, he was awarded his second commission by the Imperial Cabinet (on 13 October of the same year), to supply eight monumental chandeliers for the throne room (known as the salle Saint-Georges). By the time of Empress Catherine’s death in November 1796, three such chandeliers had been completed and accepted by her successor Tsar Paul I, who had them moved to the St. Michael’s Castle (his new residence in the city), and then to the palace at Tsarskoie Selo, where the chandeliers remain today.
ZEKH’S COMMISSIONS FOR ST. MICHAEL’S CASTLE
Zekh is known to have supplied a total of 21 chandeliers of 14 different models, and 6 lanterns of varying sizes for Tsar Paul I’s St. Michael’s Castle, built between 1798 and 1801 and decorated in the most luxurious and advanced taste. Zekh chandeliers followed different designs: some had shafts in coloured glass, others in cut-crystal in the English manner, and others in white opaline glass reminiscent of porcelain, intricately hung with flower chains and drops (see illustrated). It is interesting to note that despite the Emperor’s extensive commissions of French decorative bronzes for his new residence, which included 55 clocks, 100 pairs of candelabra and 28 ‘meubles d’apparat’ delivered in twelve instalments between June 1798 and October 1799, only five chandeliers and two lanterns were commissioned from France. This demonstrates the recognized quality and high esteem held for Russian chandeliers, which were deemed capable of rivalling the finest foreign productions.
THE FATE OF WORKS OF ART FROM ST. MICHAEL’S CASTLE
Following the assassination of her husband, Maria Feodorovna (1759-1828) had the contents of St. Michael’s Castle dispersed among the other Imperial residences, particularly the palace of Pavlovsk, her official residence until her death in 1828. A number of the important chandeliers brought over from St. Michael’s Castle at this time are still conserved at Pavlovsk today, such as the throne room chandelier (now in the Italian Salon), a number of smaller chandeliers from the apartments of Alexander Pavlovitch (now in the Empress’ bedroom), and a further chandelier of the same model as those found in the Winter Palace (now in the ballroom).
The present chandelier shares many of the same features as the other examples by Zekh conserved at Pavlovsk: the enormous crystal ‘fountain’ to the upper section; the tier of finely-cut triangular stems surmounted by small cascades; the central rosette contained within a demi-lune; the crystal garlands hanging from the lower corona; and perhaps most strikingly, the finely-chased ormolu sections with foliate motifs, so characteristic of Zekh’s oeuvre. The central shaft, which delicately combines a large ruby glass bowl at the base of the upper ‘fountain’ with exquisite colourless cut-glass bulbs, is comparable to the shaft of the magnificent chandelier delivered to Count Nikolai Petrovitxh Cheremetev for his palace of Fontanka, in St. Petersburg (now in Ostankino Palace).
'CATHERINE’ CHANDELIERS
The period of production for ‘Catherine’ chandeliers, as these uniquely original models were known, was relatively short, lasting some 15 years. Their comparatively late appearance in the last quarter of the 18th century, during the reign of Catherine II (whose name they take), can be explained by the popularity of richly painted-ceilings in Russian interiors. A vestige of the Baroque-style promoted by the architect Rastrelli during the reign of Empress Elizabeth I (1709-1762), these magnificent compositions would have jarred with large-scale chandeliers, which were thus eschewed in favour of multi-branch wall-lights and girandoles integrated typically in boiseries. It was only with the arrival of architect Giacomo Quarenghi, that demand for chandeliers took-off in Russia. His fashionable neoclassical interiors required sober ceilings, exclusively decorated with friezes and classical ornaments but anchored with an impressive chandelier as a focal point. This more sober aesthetic facilitated the birth of the so-called 'Catherine' model, which existed in two basic forms: chandeliers with a load-bearing central shaft with tiers of rings issuing branches, and the so-called basket-chandeliers with cascades of drops and central coloured glass elements (as the present example).
THE RUSSIAN ART OF CHANDELIER-MAKING
The production of chandeliers was inextricably linked to the production of bronze. In the 18th century, the demand for luxury objects in the latest fashion grew considerably as St. Petersburg developed into Russia’s ‘window into Europe’. Yet despite Catherine the Great’s voracious appetite for the finest pieces of art from France, Germany and Britain, it proved impossible – for monetary, geographic and logistical reasons – to exclusively decorate the ever-growing number of imperial and aristocratic houses of the city with European productions. Equally, Russian authorities were eager to demonstrate how the ‘new Russia’ could rid herself of the artistic and commercial influence that had hitherto shackled her to the course determined by the nations of Western Europe. Thus, from the late 18th century, Russia progressively grew its capabilities to satisfy the needs of her internal demand.
In 1769, a new programme was established at the Academy of fine arts of St. Petersburg teaching students the techniques of ‘modelling, casting, and chasing’. Directed by the French bronziers Antoine Simon and Edme Gastecloux, this initiative bore its fruits in 1778 with the creation of the Imperial Bronze Manufactury, which was composed almost in its entirety by Russian natives. Demand from the Manufactory, however, was slow to begin, and only gained momentum following an Imperial decree of 1786 which forbade the import of foreign productions. In a further attempt to improve the quality of locally-produced bronzes (which remained low), a new edict was passed to allow foreign artisans to join and, on occasion, establish their own local workshops. About a dozen such enterprises located around Bolchaia Morskaia Street, are mentioned in the 1790s. Most of these were of German origin, such as Johann Zekh, Johann Fischer, and Karl Gottfried Dreyer.
EXTRAVAGANT CREATIONS
Period records reveal the great expense of these lavish late 18th century chandeliers. In 1797, for example, the intendant of count Nikolai Petrovitch Cheremetev reported seeing two eighteen-light chandeliers with ruby coloured glass shafts at 2,5 archines high (approximately 180 cm.) in the workshop of Karl Gottfried Dreyer, for the exorbitant price of 2000 roubles. Higher still, the great chandeliers commissioned in 1794 for the Winter Palace bedroom of the grand-duke Alexander Pavlovitch (the future Tsar Alexander I) amounted to 3000 roubles each. Executed by the St. Petersburg maker Iakov Norberg, their high price was the result of their material, each of the nine branches being in solid ormolu as opposed to the more common technique of stamped metal. The chandeliers produced by Zekh for the Winter Palace in 1796 had a unit price of 4000 rubles, due to their unusually large size. The highest recorded price, however, was for the chandelier commissioned from Dreyer for St. Michael’s Castle, at a price of 9000 rubles but never delivered as a result of the death Paul I’s, and so unknown.
COLOURED GLASS
While influenced by neoclassical English chandeliers, the distinguishing feature of chandeliers produced in Russia were the exquisite coloured glass elements which they incorporated. These were typically one of three colours: cobalt blue (like those in the Winter Palace), ruby red (as the present chandelier) or emerald green. These polychrome sections were mostly produced in the Imperial Glassworks of St. Petersburg, which in 1792 employed more than 200 workers. In 1791, Fischer supplied a set of four chandeliers to the palace of count Alexander Sergueievitch Stroganov, all with a ruby red bowls. The airy and comparatively lighter design of these proved highly popular among his Russian clientele, and other makers soon followed suit.
THE PAVLOVSK PROVENANCE
Upon Maria Feodorovna’s death, Pavlovsk descended to her son, Grand-duke Constantin Pavlovitch, who lived there until his passing in 1831. The palace then passed to his nephew, grand-duke Constantin Nikolaievitch, Tsar Nicholas I’s son. During this time, the apartments occupied by his grandparents Paul I and Maria Feodorovna (where our present chandelier hung) acquired a quasi-memorial status. Considered more as a museum than a functional living space, no major modifications were carried out in the decades that followed, which ensured the conservation of the majority of its late 18th century furnishings until the Russian Revolution in 1917.
The present chandelier belongs to a larger group of objects that left Pavlovsk in the aftermath of the Revolution, sold by the ruling Bolshevik government to fund new economic ventures. The chandelier was then purchased by George Bemberg (1892-1970), scion of an important dynasty of European industrialist and close friend of Pablo Picasso (whose eldest son Paulo was his godson). One of their shared passions was their love for Russian culture and women; just as Pablo married his wife Olga, Bamberg lost his first Russian wife. The children from his second marriage to Marie Vrubova, another Russian native, gave issue to three children: Marie, Olga and Irene, who inherited the chandelier. The chandelier was then sold at Christie’s Paris on November 17 2010, lot 323 (€601,000).
We are grateful to Emmanuel Ducamp, author of this note. He is an art historian and author of various publications on works of art in Russian collections.