Tatiana Litvin
Saint Petersburg State University, Russia
Many antique decorative motifs of porcelain crockery of Russian classicism were adopted from Western Renaissance dishes (majolica, faience and products from precious metals). Borrowing occurred indirectly through imitation of European models.
Experts believe that decor of most of the Russian porcelain sets of the end of the 18th century was born from the French “Cameo Service” commissioned by Catherine II from the Sèvres Royal manufactory in 1777. All major Russian sets (“Arabesque”, 1784, “Kabinetsky”, 1793–1801, sets for dowry of daughter of Paul I, 1795–1802, “Yusupovsky”, 1798, Toiletries Set of Maria Feodorovna, 1801–1803) have certain traits of “Cameo Service”.
“Cameo Service” was an outstanding ensemble even for Sèvres manufactory. In order to endow the service with exceptional decorative qualities, the rich experience of German goldsmiths of the 15th century could have been used.
The main motif in the design of the French service is a chain of acanthus scrolls, among which alternating portrait- and story-cameo medallions are placed. Art historians trace acanthus decoration of the service back to various Roman monuments of the time of the early empire, “August classicism”. I argue that the composition of the boards of plates and bowls in which medallions with relief portraits are located between regular scrollwork floral ornament was invented during the Renaissance.
In the same way, for instance, a silver tub, forged in the years 1530–1540 in Nüremberg and now stored in the museum in Dresden GrÜnes GewÖlbe, is decorated. Between swirls of vegetation richly covering the board, high-relief bust portraits of men, resembling ancient Roman cameos are placed. Another example is a vase-pickle with an emblem of the city of LÜneburg from the Museum of Decorative Arts in Berlin, made in LÜneburg by master Lutke Olrikes in 1541.