A PARCEL-GILT SILVER AND NIELLO CARTOGRAPHIC BOX

Boris Vasilyevich Anrep (1883-1969) was a Russian literary figure and mosaic artist, who lived and worked for most of his life in Britain. He is best known for his monumental mosaics at the National Gallery, Tate Gallery, London, the Bank of England and Westminster Cathedral. Anrep was a prominent member of intellectual circles in London, notably the Bloomsbury group. In 1912, he co-curated Roger Fry's second Post-Impressionist exhibition, where he promoted the work of Russian artists, such as Natalia Goncharova, Mikhail Larionov and Nicholas Roerich.
In Russia, Boris Anrep was closely associated with the literary figures of the Russian Silver Age, including Anna Akhmatova and Nikolay Gumilev. Anrep first met with Anna Akhmatova in 1914, with whom he continued to maintain a close relationship before moving to Britain in 1916. Akhmatova dedicated more than thirty poems to Anrep, including her Tale of the Black Ring.
For a related box with the engraved portrait of Mikhail Illarionovich Golenishchev-Kutuzov and the map of Moscow, Velikii Ustiug, see M.M. Postnikova-Loseva, et al., Russkoe Chernevoe Iskusstvo, Moscow, 1972, nos. 98, 99.
For another related box engraved with the map of Moscow, also Velikii Ustiug, see Christie's, New York, 21 October 2003, lot 24.