A PAIR OF LARGE RUSSIAN ORMOLU-MOUNTED MALACHITE VASES

This impressive pair of vases epitomises the Russian predilection for precious hardstones with finely-chased ormolu mounts. From the mid-18th century, French furniture and objects arrived in St Petersburg to furnish the newly built palaces of the Empress and her Imperial court. However, a trade embargo enacted by Russia in 1793 prohibiting the import of French goods led to the development of workshops in St Petersburg capable of producing distinctive, highly sophisticated objects that compared and at times surpassed their French counterparts. Decorative bronzes were supplied by the Imperial bronze factory and were supported by the lapidary workshops which had been in existence since 1721 when the first Imperial workshop was established at Peterhof. In the late 18th and 19th centuries, the finest malachite came from mines in the Ural Mountains owned by the Demidoff family. The celebrated 1880 sale catalogue of the contents of the Florentine villa of Prince Demidoff (1812-1870), the Palais de San Donato, illustrates a collection replete with malachite works of art.