10/08/2024 General, Russian Works of Art
NEW YORK, NY -- Feodor Rückert (1840-1917) was arguably the most talented craftsman of enameled silver objects in Imperial Russia. Based in Moscow, the center of Russian silver production, Rückert became an enamel master in 1886 and worked until his death in 1917. He made a wide range of functional and decorative objects, from spoons to kovshi, cigarette cases to caskets. While he worked in every enameling technique (cloisonné, champlevé, en plein, guilloché and plique-à-jour), he was renowned for his virtuosity in cloisonné and shaded cloisonné enamel.
From 1887 until his death, Rückert enjoyed a long and productive working relationship with the Fabergé firm, but his work was in such demand that he also supplied other prominent firms, such as Ovchinnikov, Bolin and Marshak.
Until 1908, Rückert’s work, like that of his peers, drew on Russian historical design precedents and nineteenth-century re-interpretations of seventeenth-century Russian ornament. After 1908, however, his work reflected the influence of the emerging Neo-Russian style, which combined elements of the Art Nouveau with Russian vernacular ornament and forms. Promoted by the pioneering Stroganov Institute design school and the artist colonies of Abramtsevo and Talashkino, this vibrant and uniquely Russian visual vocabulary spread throughout the decorative arts.
It was during this latter period that Rückert was at his most inventive and produced his finest works. Turning from realistic floral decoration in a jewel-tone palette, he embraced the use of abstracted floral and vegetal forms, geometric motifs and animal forms, using a palette that mixed earth tones with jewel tones. The forms of his objects, for example the handles of kovshi, became more exaggerated and experimental.
Many of Rückert’s designs drew inspiration from Russian history, folk tales and famous paintings. Scenes were reproduced en plein and incorporated into kovshi, cigarette cases, boxes and caskets. An example of this technique is a Silver-Gilt and Enamel Kovsh, retailed by Fabergé’s Moscow branch, which incorporates an en plein enamel reproduction of The Boyar by the eminent Russian painter Konstantin Makovsky (sold by Doyle on October 31, 2018, lot 208). Another example is a Silver-Gilt, Cloisonné and En Plein Enamel Box, retailed by Marshak of Kiev, which incorporates an en plein reproduction of A Knight at the Crossroads by Viktor Vasnetsov (sold by Doyle on January 30, 2019, lot 168).
Doyle’s upcoming auction of Russian Works of Art on October 17 features another example of this technique, a Silver-Gilt, Cloisonné and En Plein Enamel Box, attributed to Rückert, from a Midwest Private Collection (lot 548). The cover of the box incorporates an en plein enamel reproduction of Rivals by Sergei Solomko (1867-1928). Solomko participated in regular exhibitions in St. Petersburg before gaining international recognition by winning a prize at the Chicago Columbian Exposition in 1893. He soon found himself in demand as a magazine illustrator for publications such as Niva, an illustrator for stories by Pushkin, Chekhov and Gogol, and a designer of theater posters and a series of postcards depicting old Russia published by Maison Lapine of Paris.
Rückert’s designs appealed to Russians’ interest in their own history, rooted in the nineteenth-century fascination with national identity and culminating in the celebrations of the tercentenary of the Romanov Dynasty in 1913. His work found commercial success with the Moscow merchant class, especially, whose native Russian taste stood in contrast to that of Westward looking St. Petersburg. Even so, the timeless quality and inventive design of Rückert’s work withstood the tumult of the Russian Revolution and continues to attract admirers worldwide more than a century later.
Auction Thursday, October 17, 2024 at 10am
Exhibition October 12 - 14
Lot 548
Russian Silver-Gilt, Cloisonné and En Plein Enamel Box
Attributed to Feodor Rückert, Moscow, 1908-1917.
Property from a Midwest Private Collection
Est. $80,000-120,000
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