Tankard

Because of the popularity of this tankard form, which is modeled after a Turkish prototype in the Kremlin Armory, Ovchinnikov produced a number of variants in the late 1880s and early 1890s. The decoration is architectural in nature with the lower third encircled by an arches borne on eight colonnettes. Beneath the arches, there are alternating panels enameled in green and blue, which are decorated in painted and filigree enamel with Persian-style vines and flowers in light and dark blue, green, foiled red, beige and white colors. The upper third of the vessel is divided vertically into sixteen sections delineated by strands of braided wire. These sections bear similar Persian-style decoration in raised filigree enamel over a gilt ground. Wide bands of braided wire circumscribe both the bottom and the top of the container. The removable lid bears similarities to the Crown of Kazan, which is preserved in the Kremlin's Diamond Fund. Encircling the lid are two bands of koskoshnik shapes in pale blue over gilt silver. On the tankard's base is a crowned eagle in orange-red, blue, and turquoise plique-à-jour enamel.

Inscription

Provenance

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

Leo Kaplan, New York; Jean M. Riddell, Washington, D.C., May 4, 1981, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 2010, by bequest.