The Golden Age of Russian Furniture was dedicated to an exhibition in St. Petersburg

In a royal setting. The exhibition “The Golden Age of Russian Furniture, from Catherine II to Alexander III” was opened in St. Petersburg. All items come from private collections and can be studied for hours. Why chairs "shovels" and what is a "golden ruby", found Ekaterina Gritsienko. The bird of paradise flapped its wings. And the feathers are not simple, like the flowers in this garden, made of malachite, jasper, lapis lazuli. A masterpiece of Florentine mosaics was made by a talented Russian master Ivan Sokolov. The table is outlandish to the smallest detail - even in the crosshairs of the footsteps there is a decorative pot. And it is adjacent to the work of Karl Rossi. It is no secret that great architects designed furniture in the palaces they created. Wreathed rosettes, openwork palmettes. It's all Empire. True, in the Russian way. No wonder the backs of the chairs for their shape were called "shovels". “In Russia there was a Russian Empire, and in France – a French Empire, Napoleonic, because there was such a race: who better Empire will do, who better interprets the classical past in the manner of glorifying the Empire”, – said the curator of the exhibition Alexey Abakumov. This vase is based on the drawing of Andrei Voronikhin, the architect of the Kazan Cathedral. Colorless crystal bends around the frame of gilded bronze. And on the sides are knobs in the form of snakes. Thick, rich, bloody maroon. It's called the Golden Ruby. When cooking glass really added precious metal. Things are insanely expensive - the imperial glass factory. The play of light in clusters of crystal. Transparent drops hide the same “golden ruby”. But this masterpiece of decorative and applied art could never appear to the viewer. The ceremonial chandelier created for Catherine II, the collector Mikhail Suslov discovered accidentally in one of the St. Petersburg apartments. The palace object was kept there in disassembled form. “When I saw the disparate sconces on the walls, I realized that something was wrong, I had to look further. Part of this chandelier was used in the form of door handles, said the collector, vice-president of the International Confederation of Antiquarians and Art Dealers Mikhail Suslov. The second part of the masterpiece was in Moscow. It took four years to assemble the whole thing. Difficult, but happy fate and the dresser of the Demidov dynasty. The subject is amazing - the inlay of bronze with mother-of-pearl, wood. Each bend of the pattern - from the monogram to the flower - is framed by a silver thread. In the XIX century, it was transported to the Italian estate of San Donato. In the twentieth century, the villa was sold out. The dresser lived in royal families until it was eventually put up for auction. “When this dresser was purchased, it was a record at auction. This is the most expensive piece of Russian furniture sold at auction in history. Its value is about half a million euros, said Alexey Abakumov. There were actually two drawers. While one roamed Europe, the other was kept in the Hermitage and suffered greatly during the nationalization. When the pair item purchased by the collector returned to St. Petersburg, the museum exhibit was restored. “We have things and they have things. We don't have enough parts for restoration, but their stuff has them. A lot of people are coming. And vice versa. If they turn to us for advice – they do not want to spoil their object with restoration – we also, of course, help, Natalia Guseva, curator of the collection of Russian furniture of the State Hermitage Museum, said. So, helping antiquarians, the staff of the Hermitage found out that the bureau with the image of women in ancient togas can be seen on the portrait of Count Buturlin in the middle of the XIX century. The thing is made in the fine technique of marquetry. The smallest details are not painted, but drawn from different types of wood. The most intricate thing about the exhibition is the bureau. There are more than 20 secrets. For example, by pressing a secret button, a department for writing supplies is advanced. And the boxes for special documents are hidden behind the column. Antique furniture lives longer when used. Of course, with respect to the respectable age. But even being exhibits, these objects tear open the door to the world of distant eras.

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