Box with Battle Scene: Igor Sviatoslavich Fighting the Polovtsy

"After Igor Sviatoslavich's fighting with Polovtsy" (postepoboishcha Igoria Sucatoslavidias polovtsame), painted by Viktor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov (1848-1919) in 1880, is replicated on the lid. Vasnetsov's contributions to the Russian Revival included his compositions recalling the nation's remote past. In this instance, he shows the aftermath of a battle that had been fought between the forces of Prince Igor of Novgorod-Seversk (1151-1201) and the Cumans or the Polovtsy, a nomadic Turkic people, in 1185 on the River Kayala. The Rus were overcome by the Cuman archers and Igor was captured. In the aftermath of the battle, Igor's Rus warriors lie strewn across the battle field while vultures hover nearby. The battle was immortalized in the epic poem, The Lay of Igor's Campaign, which was lost, but rediscovered in a monastery in Yaroslavl in 1785. The Lay subsequently inspired a number of artistic works including Alexander Borodin's opera, Prince Igor, first performed in 1890 and later revised by Rimsky-Korsakov. In addition, it served as the basis for a ballet of the same name completed by Sergei Diaghilev in 1909.

The patterns in filigree have been executed with blue, turquoise, green, olive, brown and red painted enamels. Large stylized blossoms appear on the sides and ends of the box. As is characteristic of Rückert, the reddish-orange enamels bring out the colors of the shield and boots of the soldier in the painted battle scene.

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Provenance

Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.

Sale, Sotheby's, New York; Jean M. Riddell, Washington, D.C., October 22, 2002, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 2010, by bequest.