Drinking Bowl (Kovsh)

Description This kovsh, or drinking bowl, is engraved with the bust of Peter the Great in armor, and the base includes a repoussé double-headed eagle, symbol of the Russian Empire. The kovsh was presented to a commander of Cossack soldiers who was instrumental in uniting nomadic tribes at the outer reaches of the empire. Gilding highlights the important features of the drinking bowl: the inscription and heraldic devices.

Conservation

Examined in preparation for exhibition.

Cleaned to remove old acrylic coating and reduce silver tarnish in preparation for exhibition.

Date	Description	Narrative
8/24/2015	Examination	Examined
8/24/2015	Treatment	Cleaned

Exhibitions

• Russian Art: Icons and Decorative Arts from the Origin to the Twentieth Century. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1959-1960.
• A Millennium of Christianity: Russian Art from The Walters Art Gallery. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1988-1989.
• Fabergé and the Russian Crafts Tradition: An Empire's Legacy . The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. 2017-2018.

Provenance Alexandre Polovtsoff (Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Polovtsov), Saint Petersburg and Paris, by purchase; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1929, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Inscriptions [Transcription] In the cartouches: Великiи г(о)с(у)д(а)рь ц(а)рь и великїи кн(я)зь / Пéтръ Алéξiевичь / всèа великия i мáлыя i бѣлыя Росїи самодержéцъ [along the edge] пожáловал сим ковшем донскóго вóиска зимовóи станицы атамáна Аξѣна Волóшенина за евò мнóгие слоужбы. АΨΒΙ г(ода) генваря въ Λ д(ен)ь; [Translation] The great lord Czar and Grand Prince Peter Alexievich, sovereign of all Great, Little and White Russia, presented with this "kovsh" the Cossack winter camp commander Axen Voloshenin for his many services. AD 1712, January 30.

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters, 1929