Creative Commons License
Creative Commons License
Creative Commons License
"Kovsh" with Imperial Eagle
(18th and 19th Centuries )
This kovsh (ceremonial cup) is carved from an unusually large piece of nephrite, a type of jade. The underside of the handle is inscribed May 6, 1911. In the old style (Julian) calendar, May 6 was Nicholas II’s birth date, and the kovsh therefore might have been intended as a presentation gift to celebrate the tsar’s 43rd birthday, although the marks on the metal show that it was made years earlier.
Inscription
Provenance
Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object. Learn more about provenance at the Walters.
Acquired by Alexandre Polovtsoff (Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Polovtsov), Paris; purchased by Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1930; by bequest to Walters Art Museum, 1931.
Exhibitions
| 2017-2018 | Fabergé and the Russian Crafts Tradition: An Empire's Legacy . The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. |
| 2003-2004 | The Fabergé Menagerie. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore; Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus; Portland Art Museum, Portland. |
| 1988-1989 | A Millennium of Christianity: Russian Art from The Walters Art Gallery. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. |
| 1959-1960 | Russian Art: Icons and Decorative Arts from the Origin to the Twentieth Century. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. |
Conservation
| Date | Description | Narrative |
|---|---|---|
| 7/24/1959 | Treatment | cleaned; coated |
| 1/23/1988 | Treatment | cleaned |
| 1/23/1988 | Examination | examined for condition |
| 2/28/2002 | Treatment | examined for condition; other |
| 9/27/2017 | Examination | Treated for exhibition. |
| 9/27/2017 | Examination | The silver and gold handle and spout of the kovsh were cleaned using precipitated chalk to remove tarnish. The metal elements were then coated to reduce tarnishing in the future. |
| 9/27/2017 | Treatment | Cleaned for exhibition |
| 9/27/2017 | Treatment | Silver and gilded silver elements were cleaned using precipated chalk in a slurry to remove tarnish. After polishing, the silver elements were coated to reduce tarnishing in the future. |
Geographies
Russia, St. Petersburg (Place of Origin)
Measurements
H: 4 1/8 x W: 12 5/8 in. (10.5 x 32.1 cm)
Credit Line
Acquired by Henry Walters, 1930
Location in Museum
Not on view
Accession Number
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
57.1076