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Lot 218 PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE ITALIAN COLLECTION
AN IMPRESSIVE CHAMPLEVÉ ENAMEL PARCEL-GILT SILVER TROMPE L’OEIL CAVIAR SET
MARKED P. OVCHINNIKOV WITH IMPERIAL WARRANT, MOSCOW, 1870
Closed7 June 2021
Price Realised
GBP 46,250
More Information
Specialist note
Sisters Barbara and Carlotta Marchisio were famous Italian opera singers, who toured Russia with great success in 1869-1871. The present caviar set, wonderfully preserved in its original case with the presentation inscription, was a gift to Marchisio sisters whilst they were on tour in Moscow in November 1870.
In one of his letters to Mily Balakirev dated 1869, Pyotr Tchaikovskii wrote: ‘Everyone here is crazy about the Italian Opera. The Marchisio sisters (who really are first-rate singers) are causing an indescribable furore’.
The Marchisio sisters were protégés of Rossini, who wrote the Petit Messe Solennelle especially for them. The sisters were born in Turin, and were from a family of accomplished musicians. Their brothers Antonio and Joseph Marchisio were a composer and a pianist respectively, and their father was a piano manufacturer in Turin. The sisters often performed together, singing leading soprano and contralto roles, across Europe, including Paris, Brussels, Berlin, Moscow, Saint Petersburg, and London.
A comparable caviar set by Ovchinnikov presented to Emperor Alexander II in 1871 was sold at Christie's, Geneva, 19 November 1979, lot 238.
In one of his letters to Mily Balakirev dated 1869, Pyotr Tchaikovskii wrote: ‘Everyone here is crazy about the Italian Opera. The Marchisio sisters (who really are first-rate singers) are causing an indescribable furore’.
The Marchisio sisters were protégés of Rossini, who wrote the Petit Messe Solennelle especially for them. The sisters were born in Turin, and were from a family of accomplished musicians. Their brothers Antonio and Joseph Marchisio were a composer and a pianist respectively, and their father was a piano manufacturer in Turin. The sisters often performed together, singing leading soprano and contralto roles, across Europe, including Paris, Brussels, Berlin, Moscow, Saint Petersburg, and London.
A comparable caviar set by Ovchinnikov presented to Emperor Alexander II in 1871 was sold at Christie's, Geneva, 19 November 1979, lot 238.