TEAPOT WITH GENRE SCENES

Creator(s): Unknown (Silversmith)

On view in: Icon Room

About this object

Rococo scrolls decorate this niello teapot, here encircling harvest scenes. The black niello figures against the gilded and engraved silver ground give the appearance of a glorious sunrise or sunset on the peasants' labors. Vilikii Ustiug on the northern trade route not far from Solvychegodsk, flourished as one of the major centers of Russian metalwork, especially niello, outside of Moscow. The fine quality of this teapot's niello decoration indicates that although St. Petersburg increasingly came to replace Archangel as a port for Western trade to Russia, the northern route remained important well into the eighteenth century.

Small globular teapot on plain ring foot with ear-shaped handle in wood. The body of the teapot is profusely decorated with niello rococo scrolls framing two harvest scenes. On one side is a couple strolling across harvest fields, the woman carrying a basket filled with vegetables. Next to them is a young peasant girl kneeling and holding a small dog. On the opposite side are two men harvesting and a woman with a basket and a dog at her feet. Other raised scrolled ornamentation decorates the rest of the teapot's surface. The entire surface of the pot, with the exception of niello designs, is finely engraved in a distinct sun-ray pattern. The lid is decorated with a garland of fruits and flowers in niello.

Object name:

TEAPOT WITH GENRE SCENES

Made from:

Silver gilt -- niello -- and wood

Made in:

Velikii Ustiug, Russia

Date made:

ca. 1770

Size:

11.8 × 19.7 × 9.5 cm (4 5/8 × 7 3/4 × 3 3/4 in.)

Detailed information for this item

Catalog number:

13.183.1-2

Signature marks:

Mark for Aleksei Torlov (essayer)

Credit line:

Museum Purchase, 2002