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Porcelain tables of the Imperial factory

From the second half of the XVIII century the Imperial Porcelain Factory started to produce various porcelain objects: vases, clock cases, decorative compositions ≈ the so-called "china pyramids", models of "Grand cascade". Tables with porcelain tabletops belonged to the group of unique objects created after the orders of the Imperial Court.

Table for visiting cards. 1848. Imperial Porcelain Factory. According to the project by A. Stakensneider. Porcelain, gilding, painting. The State Russian Museum [zoom (26k)]

In 1789 the table according to the project of the architect N. Lvov was produced for the Grand Duchess Maria Fyodorovna, the wife of Pavel Petrovich (the future Emperor Pavel I). On the porcelain tabletop supported by the legs with biscuit half-figures of vestals ≈ the keepers of the hearth, were depicted the views of Pavlovsk painted after the watercolours of Semyon Schedrin (now stored in the State Museum-Reserve "Pavlovsk").

In the end of the XVIII century most of the porcelain tables were painted with the views of Pavlovsk and Gatchina, the favourite residences of the family of the Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich and the Grand Duchess Maria Fyodorovna. In the period of time in between 1797√1799 some tables were produced at the Imperial Porcelain Factory that had bronze tripods and porcelain tabletops. They played the role of tea tables that were to be served with tea dejeune-sets. In July 1797, on the name day of the Empress Maria Fyodorovna, she was presented the set consisting of bronze table with porcelain tabletop and porcelain dejeune all the objects of which were decorated with the views of Pavlovsk (now stored in the State Museum-Reserve "Pavlovsk"). In June 1798, for the name day of the Emperor Pavel I, the Imperial factory produced the table ≈bronze tripod with porcelain tabletop painted according to the imperial wishes with miniatures with the views of Gatchina. The objects of the tea-set that was meant for such a table were also decorated with subtly painted compositions with panoramas of Gatchina.

From the middle of the 1790s the tables with porcelain tabletops were comprised into the dowry of Grand Duchesses, the daughters of the Emperor Pavel I. Judging by the documentary descriptions, they also had tripods of gilded bronze supporting round porcelain tabletops. Equal in shape, they differed in painting. The table with flowers in the centre and an inscription "To the memory of the dear mother" around was meant for the Grand Duchess Alexandra Pavlovna; the table for the great princess Elena Pavlovna was decorated with the image of Pavlovsk Palace. According to the decor of the tables the vessels of the tea dejeune (tea-pot, sugar bowls, cream-jugs, two pairs of cups) for Grand Duchesses were also decorated with flower compositions or panoramas of Pavlovsk Park.

Table with a view Ruins and Black Bridge. 1798. Imperial Porcelain Factory. Painting after the watercolour of S. Schedrin. Porcelain, over-glaze painting, gilding, gilded and oxidized bronze. The State Museum-Reserve Pavlovsk [zoom (39k)]

In the second half of the 1820s the Imperial Factory started to produce tables in which all parts were made of porcelain. The legs had various contours: they were shaped as balusters, vases of columns. Because of the complicatedness of the shapes the elements of the under-table consisted of some separately cast parts that then were joint together with metallic rod and bronze rings what made the whole construction firmer.

It is known that such porcelain table which became part of the collection of the Russian State Museum, before that belonged to the collection of the great prince Nikolay Nikolaevich the Younger, the grandson of the Emperor Nicolas I. The table was produced at the Imperial Porcelain factory for Christmas of 1834 for the Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna, the wife of the Emperor Nicolas I, the grandmother of the great prince Nikolay Nikolaevich the Younger. The artist of the Imperial factory N. Kornilov reproduced the watercolour of the artist Chernetsov "The Fountain of Tears" in Bakhchisarai.

In 1847 the porcelain tables with the views of Palermo were produced at the Imperial Porcelain Factory. In 1848 the porcelain table for visiting cards was produced according to the project of the famous St. Petersburg architect A. Stakensneider for the Sobstvennaya (Personal) Dacha in Peterhof. The table shaped as a massive bowl was supported by porcelain leg-column joint with the basis shaped as a tripod of gilded bronze. The table was gilded and painted with bright flower pattern.

The themes of the paintings of porcelain tables in the XIX century were versatile: decorative and flower compositions, landscapes, copies of the paintings of Western-European artists. The best artists and decorators of the Imperial Porcelain Factory took part in the painting of the porcelain tables: master of "figure painting" N. Kornilov, specialists of flower compositions F. and K. Krasovskijs, T. Spiridonov and others. The tables with porcelain tabletops of the Imperial Factory were exhibited at the exhibitions. In 1851 the table "Brazilian Flora" (The State Hermitage Museum) was exhibited at London International fair. The table of gilded bronze with porcelain tabletop is remarkable by the porcelain layer of unusually big size ≈ its diameter is 119 cm. The author of the painting was an outstanding master of the Imperial Porcelain Factory Fyhodor Krasovsky about whom the contemporaries wrote: "The flower painting on porcelain has never and by nobody been depicted with greater perfection".

Layer for the table Siberian Flora. 1862. Imperial Porcelain Factory. Painting by F. Krasovsky. Porcelain, over-glaze painting. The State Hermitage Museum [zoom (109k)]

At the Exhibition of Manufactures of 1965 in Moscow the Imperial Porcelain Factory exhibited the porcelain layer for the table "Siberian Flora" produced three years before that (The State Hermitage Museum). In the "Official report about the exhibition of 1865" "a rare whiteness of the porcelain and wonderful flower painting" were noted by Spiridonov and Krasovsky.

The table "12 months" with an image of a group of cupids (The State Hermitage Museum) was shown at the Exhibition of Manufactures of 1881. The masterly painting of the porcelain artist A. Mironov imitated the grisaille painting.

It is not by chance that porcelain tables of the end of the XVIII √ XIX centuries can be rarely come across on the modern antiquarian market. As a rule they were produced at the Imperial Porcelain Factory according to special orders. Each table was a single production and was never repeated further on.