A Russian En Plein and Cloisonné Enameled Gem-Set Gilt Silver Casket after Ilya Repin's Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks Khlebnikov with Imperial Warrant, Moscow, 1908-1917 5-1/4 x 8-1/2 x 6-3/4 inches (13.3 x 21.6 x 17.1 cm) 1969 grams PROVENANCE: Christie's New York, The Greenfield Collection of Russian Enamels, October 20th, 1998, lot 200; An important California private collection, acquired from the above; John Atzbach Antiques, Bellevue, Washington, acquired from the above; Acquired from the above by the present owner. ILLUSTRATED: Hill, Gerard, Fabergé and the Russian Master Goldsmiths, New York, 1989, illus. no. 103. This casket, a masterwork by the Khlebnikov firm, centers an en plein enamel reduction of the first version Ilya Repin's famous work, "Reply of the Zaporizhian Cossacks" painted between 1880 and 1891. On its completion, the work was purchased by Emperor Alexander III for 35,000 rubles. The work hung in the Winter Palace, until Nicholas II donated it in 1897 to the Russian Museum, where it has hung ever since. (Inv. No. Ж-4005). The painting, which shows a semi-legendary scene from 1676, depicts a group of Ukrainian Cossacks "za porohamy" (from "beyond the rapids" in Ukrainian) who had defeated Ottoman forces. According to legend, Sultan Mehmed IV, despite having been defeated, wrote to the Ukrainian Cossacks demanding submission, and received instead a missive laced with profanity and insults. The painting has sometimes been interpreted as a metaphor for Ukrainian bravery and sometimes as one of contempt for authority. In a second version of the painting by Repin, he sought to create a more "accurate" historical image, enlisting the Ukrainian historian Dmytro Yavornytsky to assist. Both iterations of the work include portraits of identifiable and important Ukranian, Polish, and Russian figures in the arts, and Repin made several preparatory sketches in Stanitsa Pashkovskaya (today within Krasnodar, Ukraine) in Yekaterinoslav (Today Dnipro, Ukraine) and Kachanivka. The subject itself may have been chosen with no other motive than to reproduce an image in the Imperial collection that became an immediate sensation. The casket was designed with a surrounding framework of enamel the sources for which are drawn not from historical enamels of the 17th century, but are completely modern and dream-like enamel images of ancient cities. These bear greater resemblance to illustrations of the mythical island of Buyan by Ivan Bilibin for "The Tale of Tsar Saltan" (1905) or perhaps the Russian symbolist artist Nikolai Roerich's images of Rostov Velikiy and the early Slavic peoples that were first exhibited in St. Petersburg between 1907-1909. By avoiding literal historicism, this unique work is truly representative of the romantic character of Russia's Silver Age. Today, the work retains a powerful political resonance, in addition to its history as one of the most important examples of the work of the House of Khlebnikov, gracing several important collections. Masterpieces of Russian Enamel from an Important American Collection HID12401132022 © 2024 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved