Russian Works of Art, Fabergé and Icons
Russian Works of Art, Fabergé and Icons
A gold and guilloché enamel box, Alfred Frederick Soederholm, St Petersburg, circa 1852
Auction Closed
December 2, 04:59 PM GMT
Estimate
12,000 - 18,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
A gold and guilloché enamel box, Alfred Frederick Soederholm, St Petersburg, circa 1852
of circular baluster form, the lid applied with Cyrillic monogram ‘GK’ for Grigorii Kushelev underneath enamelled count’s coronet, the rim of the lid with translucent green enamel bearing the inscription ‘to Count Grigory Kushelev and Countess Ekaterina Kushelev in memory of the twenty years of happiness’ in Russian, the bottom of the base engraved 11 May 1832 -11 May 1852 in Slavonic, stuck with maker’s initials, 72 standard
height 5.5cm, 2in.
Count Grigorii Grigorievich Kushelev was born on 27 February (9 March) 1802 in St Petersburg as the second son of admiral Grigorii Grigorievich Kushelev and his wife Countess Bezborodko, daughter of Count Ilya Andreevich Bezborodko. Kushelev and his older brother Alexander spent their childhood in the care of their aunt Princess Cleopatra Ilyinichna Lobanov-Rostovsky on her renowned Polyustrovo estate. (Fig.2)
In 1819, Count Kushelev is promoted from Junker to the mounted artillery guard. Later, he participated in the War with Persia and in the Turkish campaign. He was made captain for his combat in Shumen after which he was called to St Petersburg to serve as aide-de-camp. Made colonel in 1831 and later major-general in the personal suite of his Imperial Majesty Nicholas I, Count Kushelev further rose in the army to become member of the War Council.
In 1840, Kushelev acquired the Ligovo estate from Piotr Buksgevden for 211,429 silver roubles. The estate comprised seven villages, 347 peasants and close to 3,000 hectares. Kushelev sets himself the task of creating an estate that would be exemplary in Russia from an economic and agricultural point of view. To this end, he took on a Scotsman named Zachary McLoughlin to manage the estate. Soon after, Russian newspapers would write: 'Here is an improved Russian village near the city, a farm near St Petersburg with artificial meadows reminiscent of England or Flanders, here are fields with unusual types of cereal. Russian peasants and well-bread Russian horses fed with oats and not straw off the roofs. Experiments on the germination of wheat are being carried out, like those found in the ancient Egyptian burial sites in Thebes (Luxor).' Indeed, the newest agricultural technologies were used on the estate to increase yields, European cattle was imported, and the estate was regularly expanded.
On 11 May 1832, Count Kushelev married Ekaterina Dmitrievna Vasilchikova (1811-1874), the wealthy daughter of a general. The couple had no children of their own however they adopted a little girl named Maria in 1841.