Kovsh with Miniature: The Boyar

Painted in matte enamel in a cartouche on the kovsh's "prow" is a boyar leaning backwards with his hands resting on the pummel of his cane. The immediate source for this composition has been identified as Konstantin Makovskii's The Boyar (1913), which was reproduced on the cover of Sol'ntse Rossii (The Sun of Russia) in March that year. Ultimately, the image is derived from the image of the old boyar, the central figure in Konstantin Makovskii's The Boyar Wedding Feast in the Seventeenth Century (1883), now in the Hillwood Museum, Washington, D.C. An identical miniature painting is found on a slightly later Fabergé box bearing the inventory number 391831 in the Hillwood Museum (15.209). The Russian revival patterns of blossoms and geometric shapes are executed in blue, green, brown, red, black, and white painted filigree enamel against an opaque, light gray ground. Two exceptions, however, are the upper edge and end of the handle which is in painted filigree enamel over a gilt stippled ground. The numerous spirals and dots in wire filigree are associated with Rückert's productions.
Condition: The enamel on the handle shows signs of deterioration and repairs.

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.

Jean M. Riddell, Washington, D.C. [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 2010, by bequest.