Heritage Auction Preview

The 284-lot Heritage sale in Dallas on December 16 (starting 10am) is touted as ‘one of the most important sales of Russian enamels in decades.’ I see no reason to dispute that brazen assertion. It’s a fantastic array. There’s some great stuff.

The auction majors on 134 enamels from an ‘American Private Collection.’ I don’t know who the owner of this wonderful collection is – or why they’re selling. It’s a lot of material to unleash on the market at one go: I hope the exquisite quality ensures the sale is a success. No fewer than 18 lots are expected to clear $100,000. The estimates strike me as in keeping with reality. If they reflect the reserves, they should provide no deterrent. I don’t know the vendors’ financial circumstances. Ideally, estimates need to create auction fever. Will Heritage’s estimates be achieved? I’d like to think so. Prices for enamels of this class were much higher a few years ago.

There are only half-a-dozen or so committed collectors of Russian enamels that I know of – and they are mainly Russian, so they won’t find it easy to inspect the items in person before bidding. I do not, however, see that being much of a problem given the collection’s pedigree and the high standard of photography in the 300-page catalogue.

The field of Russian Enamels is not one that attracts museum bidding around the world. The Fabergé Museum in St Petersburg has the world’s finest collection – even bigger and better than the one to be offered by Heritage, and in no need of enlargement. So they’re unlikely to enter the fray. The British Royal Collection has a number of Russian enamels, all acquired decades ago. The Hermitage and Kremlin museums have a limited number of Russian enamels, but are not in the market to add to them.

Most collectors of cloisonné enamel are Russian. Rückert’s designs epitomize Russian Stil Modern – harking nostalgically back to some mythical, Pan-Slavic Golden Age. The miniatures that enhance some of his finest pieces are based almost exclusively on Russian paintings extolling the country’s past. Guilloché enamel has a wider clientèle than cloisonné. Items designed by Fabergé have global appeal.

I don’t like dealing in superlatives, and usually enjoy finding something to criticize – but that’s a tough ask on this occasion. All I can say is that I found it a bit surprising, and unnecessary, for Heritage to have commissioned ‘research’ from Valentin Skurlov and Anna & Vincent Palmade when preparing their catalogue. The material speaks for itself. It has no need for endorsement by such ‘experts.’ Quite the contrary. I have zero concerns about authenticity. The collection is clean. Pristine. Just great. No controversial pieces. No flaws. This stuff is clear-cut.

Heritage claim the collection ranks in importance with the Marvin Greenfield Collection (sold by Christie’s New York in 1998) and Chen Collection (sold by Lyon & Turnbull London in 2008). Many items were acquired from John Atzbach Antiques near Seattle.

 

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Feodor (Friedrich) Rückert (1840-1917) moved to Moscow as a teenager (reportedly from Alsace) and worked for Khlebnikov until 1886, before opening his own workshop on Vorontskovskaya Ulitsa. He worked primarily for Fabergé but also for Ovchinnikov, Kurlyukov, Marshak and Bolin. Rückert enamel items with miniatures rarely appear at auction, so elicit very strong competition when they do. Heritage sold a Rückert Bonbonnière at their splendid Russian Sale last May. It had a miniature of the Falconet ‘Bronze Horseman’ statue of Peter the Great that symbolizes of St Petersburg, and sold for $250,000. I imagine the buyer must have been from St Petersburg, too! Who knows? – was it a present for the city’s most notorious son, Valdimir Putin?

Such superb Rückert enamels with en plein miniatures only hit the market from time to time. Yet in Dallas we will encounter no fewer than 15 enamel items by Rückert, all at the same sale! Predicted highlight is a Casket formerly in both the Greenfield and Chen Collections with a rectangular miniature inspired by Makovsky’s Boyar Wedding (Lot 82094, est. $200,000-300,000).

A Kovsh with an irregularly bordered miniature, reproducing a detail from the Boyar Wedding, is touted at $100,000-200,000 (Lot 82095). Nearly half the top lots are kovshi. Another one, with Two Medieval Riders on Black & Grey Horses (artist unknown), is expected to bring $80,000-120,000 (Lot 82024). Also of note: a cloisonné enamel and silver-gilt Cigarette Case with a miniature of Roubaud’s 1897 Falconer on Horseback in the Time of Tsar Alexis (Lot 82028, est. $60,000-80,000); and a Box featuring Vasnetsov’s Prince Ivan on the Grey Wolf, now in the Tretyakov (Lot 82033, est. $50,000-70,000).

Another five miniatures embellish enamels by makers other than Rückert – led by a Khlebnikov Casket featuring Repin’s Reply of the Zaporizhian Cossacks (Lot 82070, est. $300,000-500,000). Vasnetsov’s Bogatyrs fronts a silver Bratina (punch bowl) with ladle by Tarabrov (Lot 82123, est. $50,000-70,000).

There are seven cloisonné enamel spoons with miniature head-and-shoulder portraits, led by a Lombardo 20cm Tea Spoon (attributed to Rückert) with an anonymous Woman in Elaborate Head-Dress (Lot 820102, est. $25,000-35,000), and a Rückert Tea Spoon with Vasnetsov’s Alkonost (Lot 820107, est. $20,000-30,000).

 

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Another 23 cloisonné enamels without miniatures, by or attributed to Rückert, come with estimates of $50,000 or more, led by a three-piece enamel Tea Service (Lot 82021, est. $200,000 400,000). Four other items are predicted to fetch between $150,000 and $200,000: a five-piece silver-gilt Tea Service (Lot 82074); a pictorial Ovchinnikov Kovsh (Lot 82079); a silver-gilt Khlebnikov Cup with cover (Lot 82071); and a Kovsh with horse-head handle (Lot 82022) acquired from Fabergé London in 1911 by the Maharajah of Bikaner, Honorary Aide-de-Camp to George V.

A cloisonné enamel and silver-gilt three-handled Kryushonnitsa (presentation cupor, to use Christie’s/Sotheby’s preferred terminology, ‘loving cup’) was acquired at Tiffany’s New York by industrialist Joseph Christoffel Hoagland before later joining both the Greenfield & Chen Collections (Lot 82124, est. $100,000-150,000). A silver-gilt-mounted, gem-set leather Desk Folio, with an en plein enamel rendering of a photograph of Rückert, was presented to Feodor Rückert by his employees to mark his workshop’s 25th anniversary in 1911 (Lot 82023, est. $100,000-200,000). It features an obscure ЭКТ hallmark. A cloisonné enamel and silver-gilt Cup with cover, made by Rückert for Ovchinnikov pre-1899 and topped by double-headed eagle, was presented on behalf of Nicholas II as a horseracing trophy, to the owner of the thoroughbred Uruguay: an engraving around the base reads Prix de S.M. le Tsar / Compiègne (Oise) 14 Juillet 1902 (Lot 82082, est. $100,000-200,000).

 

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Other top lots, produced by (rather than for) Ovchinnikov, include a shaded cloisonné enamel and silver-gilt Coffee Service of most unusual chinoiserie design (coffee-pot, jug, covered sugar-bowl, tongs, 12 spoons) that comes fully intact in its original presentation box. The service presented by Nikolai II to departing U.S. Ambassador Robert S. McCormick in 1905 (Lot 82078, est. $200,000-300,000). Also by Ovchinnikov is and a Punch Service (bowl, ladle, six cups) presented by Alexander III to the Chilean Admiral who assisted the Russian schooner Tunguss after it fell into distress off South America in 1881 (Lot 82080, est. $100,000-200,000).

Several Fabergé items on offer were made from (or incorporate) silver rather than enamel. Among the most substantial: a Régence-style Wine Cistern or Jardinière (Lot 82008, est. $150,000-250,000) and a Kovsh with griffin prow and a handle in the form of a Bogatyr, engraved (in Cyrillic) from Her Imperial Majesty the Lady Empress Alexandra Feodorovna (Lot 82002, est. $70,000-90,000). A somewhat plain domed burlwood Frame, with silver-gilt mounts and translucent ‘Merlot’ guilloché enamel, made by Feodor Afanasiev for the Imperial Cabinet in 1909, shows that not all imperial gifts were of resplendent design (Lot 82057, est. $50,000-70,000). And there’s a silver-mounted sandstone Match-Holder in the form of a Pig (Lot 82056, est. $50,000-70,000), produced by the First Silver Artel (created by former employees of Fabergé Workmaster Julius Rappaport after his retirement in 1908). A similar match-holder was once owned by Malcolm Forbes.

 

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A handful of 17th/18th century enamels from Solvychegodsk and Veliky Ustug, 400 miles south of Arkhangelsk, are followed by an enamelled gilt-bronze box in the form of a Boar by Princess Maria Tenisheva (1858-1928): an outlandish-looking piece in a style most politely described as ‘naïve.’ Maria studied in St Petersburg at the Stieglitz School of Applied Arts, before establishing an Abramstevo-style artists’ colony at Talashkino, 10 miles south of Smolensk. The Boar is one of seven pieces, dubbed ‘Enchanted Beasts’ by Nikolai Roerich, that she produced using the cire perdue  (lost wax) process in 1908 (Lot 82139, est. $150,000-250,000).

The Boar is the sixth of these pieces to come to light. It has not been seen in public since 1909 – when it was exhibited in the Grand Palais in Paris then at Topičův Dům in Prague. The other creatures from the series: a Rooster, now in a Moscow private collection; an Owl sold at Sotheby’s in 2016; a Swan, a Pigeon and a Fish, all sold at Christie’s London in 2010; and a Cat (whereabouts unknown). All are boxes except the paperweight Swan. The Boar was acquired in Paris after Tenisheva’s death in 1928 by a former White Army officer, and gifted to a member of the princely Troubetzkoy family in the 1970s.

The rest of the session features a motley ensemble of Roerich Costume Designs, Bronzes, Porcelain, Niello Snuffboxes, Miniature Easter Eggs and Fabergé knick-knacks. A number of these items hail from the collection of Kathleen Durdin from Florida and come fresh to the market. A subsequent Evening Session, starting 6pm, has 29 modest lots. The one with the highest estimate is an undated Lomonosov Porcelain (i.e. Communist Era) figure of an Afghan Woman (lot 82262, est. $3,000-5,000).

 

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I wish Nick Nicholson and Heritage all the luck in the world in offering collectors the chance to acquire works from such an outstanding collection of enamels! I doubt we will see another collection of such quality in the near future. It is quite a turn-up to find the world’s major pre-Christmas Russian Sale being held in Dallas of all places, not London! Can Heritage sustain a Russian Department and continue to obtain further stellar consignments? I look forward to Mr Nicholson’s answer in the months and years to come. All the best, Nicky!