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CUP

Creator(s): Aleksei Ivanovich Kaloshin (Designer) , Dmitrovsk Porcelain Factory (Manufacturer)

Currently in storage


About this object

This style of cup and saucer had been produced at Dmitrovsk (and other factories once belonging to the M.S. Kuznetsov group) since the late ninteenth century. The cup's flaring base and thin handle are quite common among ceramic designs influenced by art nouveau or the style moderne. The decoration on the cup, like that on the saucer, are most likely modifications of a transfer-printing design used to ornament souvenir cup and saucer sets from before the Revolution. The cup is encircled by a wide band of light blue glaze over which has been transfer-printed a band of scrolling, vegetal forms, with occasional details gilded, that recall the sort of Slavic or Russian medieval ornament that could be found in numerous pattern books by the turn of the century. This Russian revival ornament meshes well with the scenes of the Kremlin towers and palaces that are set in cartouches on either side of the cup. The view of the Kremlin is rendered entirely in a semi-transparent, bright purple paint. An abstracted sun rendered entirely in gilt shines down on the buildings. At the top of the cup is a second, thinner band of blue over which has been painted a row of curving ornamental forms.

Object name:
CUP
Made from:
Hard paste porcelain with transfer-printed decoration and gilding
Made in:
USSR: Verbilki
Date made:
ca. 1890-1931
Size:
6.5 × 12.7 × 10.2 cm (2 9/16 × 5 × 4 in.)

Detailed information for this item

Catalog number:
25.564.1
Signature marks:
Mark [Dmitrovsk mark ca. 1931-1932] Underglaze mark in red on underside of cup. The text on the mark reads: [Cyrillic] ROSSTEKLOFARFOR / MOSKVA / DMITROVSKAIA FAB. V VERBILKAKH" Translation: Rossteklofarfor [the name of the central agency overseeing ceramics and glass production in the RSFSR] / MOSCOW / DMITROVSK FACTORY IN VERBILKI Mark [Dot in blue overglaze] Mark is made over the factory mark on underside of cup. This is probably a painter's mark or a mark used to keep track of finished objects on a piecework basis.
Credit line:
Museum Purchase, 2004