A PAIR OF RUSSIAN GILT-BRONZE MOUNTED MALACHITE VENEERED CAMPANA URNS, DESIGNED BY IVAN IVANOVICH GALBERG CIRCA 1830 |

the egg and dart rims with losses, above a stop-fluted urn, the handles cast with masks and the stems on square bases supported by hairy paw feet on square plinths, losses

A collection in Russia before December 1925;
M. & R. Geneen, Grosvenor Galleries, London, 21 December 1925;
acquired by Major Ion Harrison from the above for £300.

These superb urns are of the best quality but will require restoration. They have not really been touched since they left Russia in the 1920's. The gadroon rims of each have much wear, losses, chips, there is exposed metal, gesso and old glue at these sites. There are further, subtle, chips to the body of each. The bronze mounts are of some quality but are tarnished. Cleaned and restored they will be magnificent examples.
"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 present vase closely relates to other examples designed by the Saint Petersburg architect-designer Ivan Ivanovich Galberg (1782-1863) in the second quarter of the 19th century. Following the death in 1817 of the prolific architect of the Imperial Russian Court, Giacomo Quarenghi, Galberg was promoted to the position of court architect, since “he can be most useful for the leadership of various building projects;…and equally for drawings for all workshops, factories and manufactories, that fall under its domain.” [1] With their bearded mask-form mounted handles, these urns are related to a vase in The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, dated to the 1840s (inv. no. Эпр-2642) with similar handles and designed by Galberg. An almost identical vase by Galberg, dated 1826, is also illustrated in Semyonov, V.B. Malachite, Sverdlovsk, 1987, Book 1, p. 139, ill. 22.

The design reflects the passion in the early 19th century for furniture and objects cut from malachite, a stone highly prized in Russia for its natural concentric veins of green in different shades and intensity with black wavy inclusions. In this way, the Golden Age of malachite was undoubtedly the 19^th century, particularly in Russia where stone-cutters, who from the end of the 18^th century, were able to work from a great variety of stone deposits discovered in the Altai and Ural Mountains [2]. There were three important imperial factories for stone-cutting, at Peterhof, Ekaterinburg and Kolyvan. Galberg is known to have worked at the Ekaterinburg Imperial Lapidary Factory, established in 1765.

Malachite urns and vases were treated as elements integral to one’s interior decoration, given that their size, weight and overall grandeur made them fixed elements in an interior. Simultaneously, they were elements of national pride, which foreign countries admired and bought from fairs, for example. Malachite’s status as Russia’s national treasure was a position that the country asserted at the 1851 Great Exhibition where it showcased large malachite urns and other works cut veneered in the stone.

The present pair was photographed in 1926 in the Drawing Room at Croft House, Helensburg. One of the present pair also appears in a study of the Drawing Room, Croft House by Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell (1883-1937) painted in 1934. Placed on pedestals, the urns were acquired in December 1925 by Major Ion R. Harrison, patron of Scottish colourist artists and the Glasgow ship owner, who collected important paintings and furnishings for his Victorian villa.

[1] Kučumov, A.M. Russian Decorative Art in the Collection of the Pavlovsk Palace Museum, Leningrad, 1981, p. 183.

[2] Chenevière, A. Russian Furniture of The Golden Age 1780-1840, London, 1988, p.259.