'THE ROUCHOMOVSKY SKELETON': A RUSSIAN GOLD ARTICULATED SKELETON IN SILVER-GILT SARCOPHAGUS

the fully articulated human skeleton in a velvet-lined coffin chased around on each side with three panels showing the course of life, one end with attributes of the arts, the other with attributes of war,  the removable cover with the journey in the footsteps of the Angel of Death, surrounded by the faces of infants alternately laughing and crying.

Collection of the artist until at least 1903
Jack and Nina Hardoff Collection, Florida (1997)
Christie's Amsterdam, November 24, 1998, Fine Silver, lot 505

Paris: Salon Exhibition of Decorative Arts,  1903, where the artist was awarded a Gold Medal
Paris: Salon Exhibition of Decorative Arts, 1906
Jerusalem: The Israel Museum, February 25-December 31, 1997, The Secret of the Golden Tiara, works by Israel Rouchomovsky, curator Chaya Benjamin

Ludovic Baschet,ed., Catalogue illustré du Salon de 1903: Peinture et Sculpture, Paris, 1903, p. 197, sarcophagus and the skeleton
Armand Guérinet, ed., L'Art Décoratif aux Expositions des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1903, pl.65-68; idem, 1906, pl. 78-79 (loans by the Baroness M. de Rothschild); idem, 1909, pl.87
Vicomte C., “The Tiara of Saitapharnes,” The Burlington Gazette, monthly supplement to the Burlington Magazine, no. 1 vol. 1 (April 1903)
B. Sapozhnikov, Israel Rouchomovsky and his works, 1903
M. von Horodischz, "Eine Judische Kunstler Familie," in Ost und West 6 (1905), pp. 374-380., ill p. 402: "Miniatur-Sarkophag mit Skelett"
Israel Rouchomovsky, Mein Leben un Mein Arbeit, Paris, 1928, (memoirs in Yiddish), particularly pp. 214-217
André Vayson de Pradenne, "La Tiare de Saitapharnes 1896-1903," in Les fraudes en archéologie prehistorique, Paris, 1932, pp. 399-437
Chaya Benjamin, ”The Secret of the Tiara: The Work of the Goldsmith Israel Rouchomovsky,” in The Israel Museum Journal, Vol XV, 1997, pp. 95-114
Meir Ronen, “A Golden Secret”, Israel El Al Magazine, No. 73, May - June 1997, pp. 23-31
Alexander Nikolaevich Ivanov, “Israel Rouchomovsky – The Greatest Jeweler of All Times and Peoples,” in Gold and Silversmiths in Russia, 1600-1926, Moscow, 2002, pp. 28-33 for the skeleton

three small bones from left forefinger missing (missing at time of 1997 sale); one foot of sarcophagus a replacement, otherwise good, fascinating
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

the skeleton

Israel Rouchomovsky (1860-1934) came from a poor family in Mozyr, Belarus.  Almost three-quarters of the population of the town was Jewish, and according to some accounts his parents wanted him to become a rabbi.[i]  His memoirs describe how he was drawn to silversmithing, and the efforts required to get a work permit and move with his family to Odessa, where he arrived in 1892.  They also recount how he helped a colleague make a first gold skeleton, now held in the Museum of Historical Treasures of the Ukraine.[ii]  He had thought this first skeleton would require a month of work, when in fact it took four, and he thought he could do even better; only certain sections of the first skeleton could move.  The inscription on the leg shows that the fully articulated skeleton – supposedly with 167 different parts[iii] – required five years of work. 

In his own words:"In the second piece, with the help of minute ball-bearings, all body members can move in all directions, and even the lower jaw can be opened and closed. This time I was entirely satisfied and I could say without any humbleness that I succeeded, I really succeeded, and it was at that point that I realized that this "deceased" deserved a beautiful sarcophagus."[iv]

It would be another five years to make the case, finished in Odessa in 1901. Again in Rouchomovsky's own words: "The sarcophagus is cut in massive silver and is covered entirely with ornaments and miniature figures [which he describes in minute detail]."  Of the whole project, almost a decade of careful craftsmanship, the artist wrote, "although the work has taken very long, I can say that it is one of my best works, and I have always remained more than content with it, not only with its execution, but also with its underlying conception."

the tiara of saitapharnes

In the meantime, another work of Rouchomovsky’s would bring him European-wide  fame, and the opportunity to show his skeleton to a much wider audience.  On April 1, 1896 – April Fool’s Day – the Louvre Museum had proudly announced the acquisition of a spectacular Scythian gold cap, decorated with scenes from the Iliad.  At a time of great competition among museums, Western institutions were jealous of the fabulous Scythian gold entering the Hermitage, and the Louvre paid 200,000 gold francs for what it displayed as an ancient masterpiece.

Almost immediately, though, there were questions raised about the piece.  Scholars and archeologists with more exposure to Scythian material (and its recent replicas) were generally more damning of the piece, while the French experts fought to maintain belief in the treasure.  At one point Rouchomovsky’s name came up, and he was visited in Odessa by a M. de Stern, who claimed that the goldsmith was making “antiquities.”  Rouchomovsky refuted this in a letter to the Journal des Debats, October 3,  1897, but mentioned, “I showed him a skeleton in miniature, in gold, which I have executed for the approaching International Exhibition in Paris.”[v]

Only after a French forger tried to claim credit for the Tiara in March, 1903, did Rouchomovsky acknowledge that he had been the maker.  Still the French experts were skeptical, and the goldsmith was sent funds to travel to Paris, arriving April 5.  He had to replicate sections of the Tiara under the gaze of the French before his authorship was accepted, and the Louvre admitted its 200,000 franc mistake.  The Hochman brothers, the shady antiquities dealers who commissioned the work from Rouchomovsky in 1894, had paid him just 1,800 roubles, or a little under 1,500 francs.

later success

The controversy had brought Rouchomovsky fame, and his trip to Paris allowed him to show the skeleton and its case at the 1903 Salon, where he won a gold medal.  Important French patrons such as Baron James de Rothschild placed commissions with him, and he showed again in the Salon of 1906.[vi]  This contrasted with Odessa, where – while he became a master – Rouchomovsky was not able to get a certificate as a merchant.[vii]  The violent pogrom of 1905, in which a Jewish newspaper reported 800 killed, can only have emphasized this difference; his memoirs recall a tiny Torah ark of mother-of-pearl and precious stones, “ordered by a very wealthy Jew…but unfortunately lost during the riots in Russia.”[viii] 

In 1910, he moved with his family to Paris.  He and his sons corresponded with Boris Schatz, who founded the Bezalel School in Jerusalem, and he published his memoirs in Yiddish in 1927.  He died in 1934, but a few years earlier had created a tombstone for himself and his wife.  Miniature, like his skeleton and its sarcophagus, it was engraved, “A happy man was I in life / Peace and quiet, bread and clothing were always found in my home / I loved my work, my wife, and my home / Even after my death my spirit will prevail / As the work of my hands that I have left behind.”[ix]

[i] Ivanov p. 18
[ii] Christie’s 1998 note
[iii] Ivanov p. 32
[iv] Translations from Rouchomovsky’s memoirs cited from 1998 note
[v] Quoted by Vicomte C. Burlington Gazette
[vi] Benjamin, p. 102
[vii] Ivanov, p. 27
[viii] Benjamin, note 14, p. 113
[ix] Ibid, p. 102