Russian ormolu and porcelain-mounted armoire
Russian ormolu and porcelain-mounted armoire
Gambs Frères, St. Petersburg, c. 1810–30
Gift of Leon Harris, Jr., 1972
1990.005
This armoire was once in the possession of the Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna (1786–1859), daughter of Czar Paul I, and granddaughter to Catherine the Great. Her residences included the Pavlovsk Palace, Pavlovsk, Russia, and the Weimar Palace, Thuringia, Germany, after she married Charles Frederick, Hereditary Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach in 1804.
Beneath the break-arch, swan’s-neck pediment is an array of porcelain plaques rimmed in ormolu and featuring flowers and eighteenth-century girls. The plaques are signed in Cyrillic by the artist A. Mironov and are likely to have been crafted in the Imperial Porcelain Factory. The lower section contains two concealed drawers.
Flower species depicted on the plaques have been identified by William Frederick Struebig, of Cardiff, Wales: rose briar, bluebell, poppy, garden rose, widgelia, michelmas daisy, fuchsia, dahlia, morning glory, foxglove, rose, speedwell, cornflower, tiger lily, dahlia, larkspur, scabies, marigold, Chinese aster, virgilius, English rose, African marigold, harebell, fisherman’s basket, field poppy, white bluebell, freesia, rambler roses, clarksia, montbretsia, tea rose, white rose, nasturtium, heather, African daisy, marguerite daisy, primrose, palupanthus, wild strawberry, furz, moss rose, evening primrose, double Chinese aster, scarlet pimpernel, Damascus rose.
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