Lot 0008
Russian Gilt Bronze Troika on Malachite Base, after Grachev
Estimate: 6000-8000€
After Vasily Yakovlevich Grachev (1831-1905)
Troika on a Malachite Base. St Petersburg, second half of the 19th century.
Gilt bronze, malachite; casting, chasing, gilding, mounted on a polished malachite plinth. Dimensions: 24 x 8 cm.
A dynamic cabinet sculpture representing a Russian troika in full motion, with two drivers seated in a sleigh drawn by a team of three horses. The composition is conceived with pronounced forward thrust: the horses are shown at different angles and in varied strides, while the taut reins and diagonally arranged harnesses heighten the sense of speed and tension.
The model relates to the work of Vasily Yakovlevich Grachev, one of the notable sculptors of realist orientation active in the field of Russian cabinet bronze. Largely self-taught, Grachev became famous for his small-scale sculptural models in the Russian manner, especially scenes drawn from national life. Complex multi-figure groups of this kind were beyond the technical scope of his own workshop after its establishment in 1885 and are therefore closely associated with casts produced at the St Petersburg foundry of Carl Woerfell, where a number of Grachev’s models were cast.
Starting price: 5000€
Estimate: 6000-8000€
Hammer Price: €
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Lot 0006
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Lot 0009
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Such objects belong to the important development of Russian genre bronze in the pre-Reform decade, when the amusing peasant types of earlier decades gradually gave way to more varied and observant scenes drawn from everyday national life. In works of this kind, functional desk accessories were transformed into miniature sculptural tableaux, combining ornamental purpose with storytelling.
Comparable item in Russian State Historical museum: https://catalog.shm.ru/entity/OBJECT/2870625?query=чаепитие&index=42Starting price: 5000€
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Hammer Price: € -
Lot 0010
Russian Ormolu and Malachite Pastoral Cabinet Bronze
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Lot 0010
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Such combined works in gilt bronze and malachite became especially honoured in St Petersburg workshops in the mid-19th century. In the early years of the factory directed by Carl Woerfell, production focused largely on objects made in bronze and malachite, and it was quickly understood that sculptural groups mounted on stone bases possessed a greater appeal than plain bronze alone. Animalier and genre subjects, when enriched by malachite plinths or other ornamental stones, acquired a more luxurious and distinctly Russian character. The present model belongs to this important tradition of cabinet sculpture, in which bronze was consciously paired with precious ornamental materials to heighten both its artistic presence and commercial desirability.Starting price: 2000€
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Lot 0007
Russian Ormolu and Malachite Neo-Russian Pen Holder
Estimate: 2500-3000€
Lot 0007
Russian Ormolu and Malachite Neo-Russian Pen Holder
Estimate: 2500-3000€Russian Ormolu and Malachite Pen Holder . Russia, late 19th century.
Gilt bronze, malachite; cast, chased, engraved, polished. Dimensions: 20 x 16.
A striking desk pen holder conceived in the Neo-Russian taste, combining the warm lustre of gilt bronze with the richly banded surface of malachite. The upper holder is formed as a flaring conical vessel with a finely striated surface, raised on a truncated malachite pedestal mounted within bronze rims. Its architectonic silhouette is enlivened by applied mounts and zoomorphic finials, which lend the object a distinctly archaizing and ornamental character.
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Estimate: 2500-3000€
Hammer Price: €