Pair of Sherbert Cups and Stands

Location: Russia, Moscow

Materials: silver-gilt, translucent, opaque champlevé, plique à jour and en plein painted enamel 88 zolotniks

Dimensions: cup height 18.2 cm ; stand diameter 19.2 cm

Accession Number: RUS 575

Other Notes:

The stems of the cups are decorated with the arms of Moscow, Novgorod and Kazan.

Ivan Petrovich Khlebnikov founded his firm in St. Petersburg in 1867; four years later it was transferred to Moscow, where it continued until the Revolution. As a supplier to the court, it received the imperial Warrant in 1875. The firm’s earliest work enamelwork was in champlevé, using a limited number of colours with a predominance of blue. Subsequently, in tandem with other Moscow silversmiths, it progressed to pastel-toned filigree enamel. At the beginning of the 20^th century the firm was particularly noted for combining various enamelling techniques on a single object, as on these cups.

Bibliography:

Haydn Williams, Enamels of the World: 1700-2000 The Khalili Collections, London 2009, cat. 177, pp. 258–9.