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arjorie Merriweather Post’s appreciation for Russian
art developed while she was living in Soviet Union for 18
months (1937 to 1938), as the wife of Ambassador Joseph E.
Davies. While the nucleus of her Russian collection was acquired
during this visit, she spent the next thirty-five years purchasing
the majority of her collection at auctions or through European
and American dealers. Mrs. Post recognized Russian imperial
art as complementary and integral to western European art
in the 18th and 19th centuries and displayed objects from
France and other western European countries side-by-side with
imperial works in the grand setting of her home.
Today, Hillwood houses the most comprehensive
collection of 18th- and 19th-century Russian imperial art
outside of Russia. Represented are extensive holdings of porcelain
from the country’s most important production factories,
as well as significant pieces of imperial glassworks, Fabergé
luxury objects, and numerous important paintings—all
of which reveal the influence of western European art on Russia.
Hillwood also has an important collection of Russian liturgical
works, such as icons dating to the 16th century, as well as
chalices and vestments dating from the 18th to 19th century.
To illustrate the range and connoisseurship
of Mrs. Post’s collecting, a few extraordinary highlights
are identified below.
Fabergé
Approximately eighty pieces by the famous
jeweler to the imperial court, Carl Fabergé
(1846 – 1920) are in the Hillwood
collection, including two of the 50 rare imperial Easter Eggs
that were originally commissioned by the emperors Alexander
III (1881-1894) and Nicholas II 1894-1917). The Catherine
the Great Easter Egg, originally presented by Nicholas II
to his mother in 1914, was a gift to Mrs. Post from her daughter
Eleanor Barzin by way of the Hammer Galleries in New York.
Two panels on the front and back of the egg are 18th century
style miniature allegorical scenes based on the French artist
François Boucher. These and several smaller panels
are set off by rows of pearls and swags of diamonds surrounded
by chased gold.
The Twelve Monogram Egg exemplifies a
rare decorative technique of Fabergé. Made of gold
and covered in blue enamel ciphers, it has 12 diamond-studded
monograms of Alexander III and his wife. Fabergé’s
preference for designing bejeweled objects rather than conventional
jewelry is evidenced by the broad range of functional Fabergé
items in the Hillwood collection, such as clocks, candlesticks,
ashtrays, stamp boxes and a crotchet hook. One of Fabergé’s
finest examples of enameling is a Music Box (ca. 1907) made
as a 25th wedding anniversary gift for Feliks and Zinaida
Yusupov. The number 25 is set in diamonds on the clasp, and
the box has scenes of the family’s six palaces painted
in enamel.
Russian Imperial Porcelain
Mrs. Post was one of the first foreign
collectors to amass an extensive collection of porcelain tableware,
plates, cups and saucers, tea sets, vases and symbolic bread
and salt plates from Russia’s most important porcelain
producers including the Gardener, Kornilov, and Popov Factories.
Her collection of imperial porcelain is exceptional as an
illustrative history of the broad range of wares produced
by this influential factory, from its inception by Empress
Elizabeth I in 1744 until the Bolshevik revolution in 1917.
One of the earliest pieces of porcelain in the collection,
Bowl from Her Majesty’s Own Service (ca. 1759), a dessert
service covered with gilt latticework and pink rosettes on
white ground, is believed to be the first services made in
the imperial porcelain factory.
During the reign of Nicholas I (1825 -
1855), who equaled, if not exceeded, Catherine the Great in
the number of his artistic commissions, the factory produced
more porcelain than at any other period, especially vases
with copies of European paintings. Hillwood has four pairs
and three single vases from this period alone. Shortly before
departing from Moscow in 1938, Mrs. Post was presented a pair
of vases by Madame Molotova on behalf of the Russian government.
These elongated vases (ca. 1836) have carved and gilded porcelain
handles rendered like scrolling branches—a popular neo
classical motif. The base is covered with modeled gilt acanthus
leaves on a gold ground and on the middle section on a blue
ground are copies of unidentified 19th -century German landscapes.
Military Culture
Shortly after the Napoleanic wars and at
the beginning of his reign, Nicolas I suppressed a rebellion
in 1825 by Russian elite attempting to institute a constitutional
monarchy. The emperor commemorated the military throughout
his reign by commissioning emblems and scenes from military
culture to appear on porcelain services, souvenirs and plates
as well as exceptional gold and silver objects that were presented
as royal gifts.
In the Hillwood collection is a large
Military Presentation Cup that represents the height of Russia
neoclassicism in the 1830s. The officers in his regiment presented
it to Count Stepan Fedrovich Apraksin in 1833. The solid gold
cup has finely rendered details in burnished gold against
a matte background and is the only known piece fabricated
by master metalsmith Johann Christian Barbé that bears
his initials. The lid of the cup is carved in minute detail
to resemble the plumed helmet of the Chevalier Guards.
Paintings
Numerous portraits of the Tsar and Tsarinas
of Russia, from Alexis (1645-1676) to Nicholas II, are on
display in the Entry Hall at Hillwood. Prior to the invention
of the camera, portraiture painting was a prodigious industry.
Especially among royalty, presenting a portrait of oneself
as a gesture of thanks or to adorn social, educational institutions
or official departments was standard practice. One of the
most impressive portrait paintings is a monumental presentation
Portrait of Catherine II (ca. 1788) attributed to the artist
Dmitrii Levitskii. Posed in her full state regalia and draped
in an ermine robe and satin mantle embroidered with double-headed
eagles, the empress is gesturing with a scepter in hand to
a bust of Peter the Great and an orb and crown, illustrating
her claim to follow in Peter’s imperial footsteps.
One of the most popular paintings in the
collection is a Boyar Wedding Feast, a large-scale historical
genre painting depicting the union of two powerful royal families
in the 17th century. Painted in 1883 by Konstantin Makovskii,
who used meticulous detailing in the ornately embroidered
clothing, fur trimmed coats, and pearl-studded women’s
headdresses, the theatricality, color, and extravagance of
the scene exemplifies the Russian revival that was popular
in the late 1800s.
Ecclesiastical Objects
While Marjorie Merriweather Post’s
initial acquisitions of Russian liturgical works can be credited
to her third husband, Joseph Davies, who began collecting
icons and chalices during his tenure as ambassador to Russia,
she actively acquired Russian icons throughout the remainder
of her life. At the time of her death in 1973, the Hillwood
collection had 84 wooden icons ranging from the 16th through
the early 20th -centuries, presenting a wide range of the
history of Russian icon painting. The icon, which is a symbolic
representation of the Mother of God, Jesus Christ, saints,
or scenes from the scriptures, often has a beautifully crafted
metal cover ornamented with filigree, enamel, jewels and repoussé.
The first icon purchased by Mrs. Post believed to have a royal
provenance is the Iverskaia Mother of God (ca. 1896-1908)
in a filigree enamel and pearl be-decked cover, which was
allegedly from the Alexander Palace at Tsarskoe Selo.
Numerous chalices made for the Orthodox
Church and ranging in date from the 16th to 19th century are
also on display, including one of the last few remaining liturgical
works of the once prolific master goldsmith Ivar Windfeldt
Buch. Perceived as one of the finest Russian Orthodox chalices,
the piece was commissioned by Catherine the Great in 1791
for the St. Aleksandr Nevskii Lavra in St. Petersburg. It
is studded with thousands of diamonds and eight cameos in
chalcedony, bloodstone, nephrite, carnelian, and cast glass
from Catherine’s private collection.
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