rectangular, enameled with colorful flowering plants on ground of sea green, cream, and aubergine, with applied wires and gilded beads, the hinged cover finely enameled en plein with a scene of Napoleon Bonaparte witnessing the burning of the Moscow Kremlin, after Vasili Vereshchagin, depicting the French emperor and his military staff by the walls of the Moscow Kremlin, which are in flames, with geometric borders

Sotheby's New York, December 15, 1987, lot 265, illustrated

with some small scratching and loss to enamel
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

It is virtually certain that the offered lot was made in 1912, the year in which Russians commemorated the centennial of their nation's victory over Napoleon. The celebrations reached their peak in late August when Emperor Nicholas II, the Tsarevich, and members of the court traveled by train to Borodino to spend two days at the battlefield where Napoleon's Grand Armée had been defeated. To the strains of hymns, troops reenacted the procession with the icon of the Mother of God of Smolensk which had been used to bless Field Marshall's Kutuzov's troops 100 years earlier. The emperor and members of his court then returned to Moscow where the continuing celebrations offered events such as a public performance of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture and concluded with an enormous public praꦓyer service in honor of Alexander I on Red Square on August 30, the feast day of St. Alexander Nevsky.