Lot 0011
Russian Ormolu and Malachite Model of a Muzhik and Boy Sledding
Paperweight
Estimate: 1500-2000€
Russian Ormolu and Malachite Model of a Muzhik and Boy Sledding
Paperweight
Russia, 1830s-1840s. Dimensions: 10 x 15 cm
Bronze, malachite; casting, chasing, gilding, malachite mosaic.
A finely modeled Russian paperweight in the form of a peasant and a boy seated on a small sled, arranged as a compact genre group upon a rectangular malachite base. The elderly muzhik, with pronounced beard and traditional cap, braces himself behind the child, who raises one hand to his hat in a lively, almost theatrical gesture.
Folk themes entered artistic bronze of St. Petersburg in the late 1840s, in the context of a broader democratization of Russian art and culture. Bronze figures of vendors, peddlers, coachmen, and other popular urban types began to appear, echoing the imagery of genre painting and literary sketches devoted to everyday life. A landmark moment came at the Great Exhibition in London in 1851, where two large Demidov compositions of dancing peasants and street figures on malachite bases introduced European audiences to the distinctive combination of Russian bronze, malachite, and national genre subjects. By the 1850s, some of these multi-figure models were also reproduced as small individual bronzes, often made for use as paperweights.
Starting price: 1000€
Estimate: 1500-2000€
Hammer Price: €
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