Lot 91

An extremely fine Russian silver-gilt and shaded enamel coffee service
Pavel Ovchinnikov, Moscow, 1899-1908

Auction: 23 November 2008 at 15:00 GMT
Description
comprising: a coffee-pot, covered sugar-basin, cream-jug, sugar-tongs, and twelve coffee-spoons, of tapering rectangular outline, the side panels of the receptacles finely decorated in polychrome shaded enamels in the Chinese style with wetland scenes and animals, including fish, frogs, cranes, an owl, a swan, cockatoos, butterflies, and swallows, within abundant foliage, with a sunrise and moonlight, the hinged lids also enamelled and with facetted square and crown-shaped finials, the sugar tongs enamelled en suite, the fig-shaped spoons enamelled with three different patterns with scrolling flowers and foliage, all within the original silk-lined wooden case, the interior of the lid with the manufacturer’s stamp beneath the Imperial Warrant (17)
The coffee-pot 16.5cm high
Provenance
Christie’s New York, Fine Russian Works of Art, 15th June 1982, lot 122
A gift from Nicholas II to the father of a previous owner during one of his trips to Russia in 1905.
Footnote
Compare with a tea service in identical taste sold at Sotheby's New York (Sotheby's, New York, Russian Art, Vol. III, 26 April 2006, lot 232. For a pair of Chinese style cloisonné vases by Ovchinnikov see Gerard Hill, Fabergé and the Russian Master Goldsmiths, New York, 1989, pl.231.
