SAUCER

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 form of this saucer -- particularly the high curve of the rim and the relatively large diameter -- were designed to accommodate the practice of pouring hot tea from the cup to the saucer and allowing it to cool more quickly. The decoration on the saucer, like that on the cup, are most likely modifications of a transfer-printing design used to ornament souvenir cup and saucer sets from before the Revolution. The scrolling vegetal forms recall the sort of Slavic or Russian medieval ornament that could be found in numerous pattern books by the turn of the century and that would easily fit with an image of the Kremlin (as appears on the cup). This design is picked out in light blue glaze and some gilding. Another smaller band of blue encircles the edge is decorated with a repeated floral design in gold. In two cartouches on either side of the saucer are the inscriptions "USSR" and "MOSCOW" in pseudo-Slavonic script colored in with a semi-transparent, but extremely bright purple. A more opaque version of the color is used to fill in the cartouches.

Object name:

SAUCER

Made from:

Hard-paste porcelain with transfer-printed decoration and gilding

Made in:

USSR: Verbilki

Date made:

ca. 1890-1931

Size:

3.2 × 17.1 cm (1 1/4 × 6 3/4 in.)

Detailed information for this item

Catalog number:

25.564.2

Signature marks:

Mark [Dmitrovsk factory mark ca. 1931-1932] In red underglaze on underside of saucer. 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] On inside of foot in a dark blue underglaze. This is most likely a worker's mark or a mark for tracking finished objects in a piecework system. Model number 21 Impressed in paste on underside of saucer. These numbers appear on the factory's works in the Gardner and Kuznetsov eras and are most likely model numbers. Inscription [Cyrillic] S.S.S.R. MOSKVA In cartouches on the surface of the saucer. Translation: U.S.S.R. MOSCOW

Credit line:

Museum Purchase, 2004