Russian Glass Art and Ceramic Art

Grace cup with Cyrillic proverb

    Grace cup with Cyrillic proverb

    Russian Empire, Oryol province, Bryansk district, Dyatkovo village

    The 1880-1890s

    Boehm E.M. - the sketch author, Dyatkovo Crystal Factory

    Double-layer glass; golden painting, enamel painting, blowing

    Height 16.5 cm, diameter (welt) 13.5 cm

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    Grace cup was created following the samples of ancient Russian banquet metal and wooden utensils at the Dyatkovo Crystal Factory within the framework of the increased interest in the National artistic traditions. The author of the sketches was the artist Elizaveta Merkurievna Boehm, born Endaurova (1843-1914). Having received art education at the drawing school under the Society for Arts' Encouragement, she was engaged in lithography, drawing, silhouette, watercolors, picturized books for children. Elizaveta Boehm became interested in glass, casually - her brother, A. Endaurov, served as the Managing Director at the Dyatkovo Crystal Factory, which was founded by the Maltsov merchants’ family in the early 1790s in the Bryansk district.
    Already in the early 1870’s, E.M. Boehm presented her first sketches of glass vessels in the Russian style. Grace cups became the first examples. It is reported that the artist herself took part in painting on her glass works. Elizaveta’s talent as glass decorator was fully recognized in the early 1890s. E.M. Boehm received a well-deserved award for painting glass objects, presented in the section of women creativity during the World Columbian Exposition in Chicago (1893). The glass vessels were made mainly from transparent crystal of golden or blue color at the Dyatkovo Crystal Factory. Grace cups of this kind are very rare. Despite the absence of the factory mark, those cups were created at the DCF, since it was the only place where the original author's glass works in the Russian style according to the sketches of E.M. Boehm were produced. The analogues of the works with her signature are stored in the museums and private collections. Boehm’s creative work is a magnificent artifact of the Russian art of the Historical reminiscences era, evidence of the artistic heritage creative treatment. It represents a productive amalgamation of the graphics professional and factory production.
    Grace cup, repeating the shapes of the ancient Russian feast vessels, is made from transparent bright blue (the top) and muted frosted glass (inside) by the duplication method – application of glass layers. Chemically matted surface of the grace cup is decorated with two rows (eight elements each) of gold painting in the form of two-headed eagles. The enamel base creates the effect of gilded relief. Cyrillic inscription is on the profiled throat.

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    Инв.2147/ДПИ