An Imperial Porcelain Vase, Imperial Porcelain Manufactory, St Petersburg, Period of Nicholas I, dated 1839

of bandeau form with flared neck and foot, the front painted after Shepherdess Milking a Goat (c. 1648) by Nicolaes Pieterszoon Berchem (Dutch, 1620-1683), signed in Cyrillic lower left V. Shchetinin and dated 1839, within a frame of ciselé gilt leaf tips, above applied flourishes forming acanthus anthemia, the sides and back ciselé with an elaborate frieze of acanthus scrolls and rosettes, the reeded handles with moulded foliate brackets and scroll terminals, gilt-bronze plinth, the inside of the neck with blue Imperial cypher of Nicholas I

Purchased by the grandfather of the present owner from a French collection in the mid 1940s

Thence by descent

The vase is generally in very good/ excellent condition, rather better than one usually sees with this type of object. The right handle appears to have been off and re-attached; its terminal rests closer to the neck than that of the left handle, as visible in the catalogue photo. There are traces of touching-up to the gliding, visible under UV light, particularly at one leaf of the left handle; also a spot at the back; these minor restorations have been successful. There are a handful of tiny firing flaws, as expected. The ciselé decoration at the back has some minor surface scratches, as expected. The vase is structurally sound. Overall, the vase gives a grand impression. The painting of the landscape view is especially well executed.
"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. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The three decades of Emperor Nicholas I’s reign are regarded as the peak of porcelain production in Russia.  He was an enthusiastic patron of the Imperial manufactory and was, apart from Catherine the Great, the Russian monarch most interested in the arts.  Foremost among the porcelain wares made during this period are the vases on which the central panels serve as ‘canvases’ for reproducing two-dimensional works of art.  Old Master paintings were favoured, though contemporary works, both Russian and European, if in keeping with the Emperor’s taste, were also copied.  Paintings were either brought to the factory for copying, or the painter-decorators worked in a room at the Hermitage specially reserved for the purpose.  Such vases were often produced for the Emperor himself, presented at New Year or Easter, or for a member of the Imperial Family, sometimes as part of a dowry, or as diplomatic gifts to foreigners.  Given the inscribed date of 1839, it is highly possible that the present vase was made for the dowry of Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna (1819-1876), who married Maximilian, Duke of Leuchtenberg on 2 July of that year.

While the present lot is typical in that an Old Master picture is copied, it is somewhat unusual in that it seems to have been copied from an engraving.  The original painting by Berchem (see illustration below) has been in the Louvre since 1817, having been acquired on the London-Paris art market as part of the collection of Alexis Quatresols de la Hante (see V. Pomarède, ed., The Louvre: All the Paintings, 2011, p. 358).  Berchem was an especially prolific master of the Dutch Italianate style whose work was in great demand.  His popularity continued into the 19^th century, and his paintings were frequently engraved.  Shepherdess Milking a Goat was engraved in the 19^th century by the German draughtsman Johann Martin Friedrich Geissler (1778-1853), who is known to have worked in Paris until at least 1814 (see illustration below).  The Imperial Porcelain Manufactory had its own extensive collection of prints for use as sources, despite access to Imperial collections rife with great paintings from which to choose.  Working from a monochromatic engraving, Shchetinin was free to interpret the view with his own palette, rather brighter than Berchem’s original.

Not a great deal is known about the porcelain painter V. Shchetinin except that he is certainly a member of the well-known family of painter-decorators employed at the Imperial Porcelain Manufactory which included Ilya, who died in 1864, and Petr, born in 1806.  Given these dates and that all three were active in the 1830s and 1840s, it is likely that V. Shchetinin was a brother of Ilya and Petr.  Petr Shchetinin also copied works by Berchem; he reproduced two Berchem pictures on a pair of vases presented to the Emperor in 1835; today these vases are on display in the Field Marshal’s Hall at the Winter Palace (illustrated, T. Kudriavtseva, Russian Imperial Porcelain, 2003, p. 161; and N. von Wolf, ed. V. Znamenov, Imperatorskii farforovyi zavod, 1744-1904, 2008, p. 317).  If the Emperor had a predilection for Berchem’s work – and certainly it is of a style he favoured – it is possible that the present vase was made for him, if not for his daughter’s dowry; at the least it is likely that he chose the subject to be reproduced on it. 

Other known works by V. Shchetinin include two vases at Hillwood Museum, Washington D.C., one painted with scenes from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, and a larger vase painted after Henrik van Steenwyck II’s Interior of a Gothic Church (c. 1604), a painting still in the collection of the Hermitage (see A. Odom, “Paintings on Porcelain Vases at Hillwood”, Antiques, March 2003, pp. 132-139).  A pair of vases, similar in scale to the present lot and currently at Peterhof Palace, is painted with harbour views, one by V. Shchetinin and the other by his colleague S. Daladugin.  A military plate painted by V. Shchetinin and dated 1830 sold, Sotheby’s New York, 16 April 2007, lot 126, and is similar to another military plate by him (illustrated, A La Vieille Russie, An Imperial Fascination: Porcelain, 1991, no. 124).