rounded rectangular, the lid and base painted with brightly-coloured stylised leaves and flowerheads on pale green and peach grounds, the borders with cloison lozenges on dark blue grounds, the interior of the lid engraved in Russian '[To] Ivan Merur/ from/ Filadelf Gennadievich/ Bazhanov/ in memory of the construction of the house/ in St Petersburg/ Nikolaevskaia 72/ 24 December 1908', 84 standard

Feodor Rückert

As the following lots attest, objects produced in the workshop of Feodor Ivanovich Rückert must rank first among those of his contemporaries.  The master was born Friedrich Mauritz Rückert in Alsace-Lorraine in 1840, immigrating to Russia at the age of fourteen.  For thirty years, from 1887, the year in which the Moscow branch of Fabergé opened, until the Revolution in 1917, the year of his death, Rückert was the only workmaster for cloisonné enamel in the Fabergé firm.  He produced highly original works of exceptional quality in evolving styles for Fabergéꦦ;, while also supplying other ret🔯ailers including Kurlyukov and Marshak, and selling much of his production direct to collectors.

Having emigrated at such a young age, Rückert fully assimilated in Russian culture; he found no difficulty in employing traditional Russian forms – in particular the kovsh – and decorative motifs in his work.  Favoured subjects for pictorial enamels included traditional folklore and romantic characters of Kievan Rus’, some of which were copied after works by Makovsky, Solomko and Polenov, among others.  By the turn of the century, the traditional Usol’sk-inspired stylistic elements of his enamel objects were mixed with refreshing Art Nouveau devices.  Most distinctive is his production between 1908 and 1917, which was certainly influenced by his son Pavel, who studied briefly at the Imperial Strogonoff School sometime between 1906 🅠and 1908 and then returned to his father's workshop, bringing new ideas and motifs. 

The engraved inscription refers to the construction of Bazhanov House, which is now considered a monument to the stil modern for both its facades and interiors.  Located at what is now 72 ulitsa Marata, the building, designed by architect Pavlo Aleshin, originally contained commercial space, extensive staff quarters, and a luxurious 40-room flat for the merchant Filadelf Bazhanov (1865-after 1918), head of the firm which bore his name.  The interior includes magnificent panelling and extensive mosaics, including Mikhail Vrubel's tile composition Peacock and Petr Vaulin's Volga and Mikula Selyaninovich, the first design for which had been awarded a Gold Medal at the 1900 Paris Expositioꦚn. The modern style and bright palette of the present lot is in keeping with the building it commemorates.