A pair of rare and important porcelain vases, Imperial Porcelain Factory, St Petersburg, period of Nicholas I, late 1820s

The ground of each vase painted with bulbous, vertical, white stripes, the handles scrolling inwards over the lip of the vase, the handles, base, stem and neck of each vase gilded and decorated with foliate and floral ornamentation, each vase painted with a figural scene in a square reserve within a gilded border with rosettes in each corner and a floral helix pattern on each side; the first vase painted by Vasily Meshcheriakov depicting a woman in an orange stola holding a sleeping infant, signed in the bottom left corner; the second vase painted by Semyon Golov depicting a young woman drinking from a bowl held by a young maid, seated beside a basket of fruit, both on later marble bases, signed in the bottom right corner, both with palace labels under the base numbered 388 and 389

height of each 21 in.; 53.3 cm