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Source Description

Fabergé’s craftsmen in Moscow, especially under the watchful eye of workmaster Feodor Rückert, became known for their work in the pan-Slavic or neo-Russian style, hearkening back to 17th-century motifs of Russian folk art. Often on rather conventional shapes, Rückert and his silversmiths created an explosion of color, achieved through the historic technique of cloisonné enamel in which tiny metal lines are soldered to the surface then filled with glass powders in various colors and fired to create a high gloss finish. The result is a spectacular evocation of the 17th-century originals. Far from mere copies, however, Rückert's designs, such as this tea service, employ naturalistic or abstract motifs in a thoroughly modern adaptation of a remarkable earlier period of Russian art and decoration.

Scholar Source Context

Document identity
localId
142809
label
Tea Service
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
142809
contentType
object
title
Tea Service
description
Fabergé’s craftsmen in Moscow, especially under the watchful eye of workmaster Feodor Rückert, became known for their work in the pan-Slavic or neo-Russian style, hearkening back to 17th-century motifs of Russian folk art. Often on rather conventional shapes, Rückert and his silversmiths created an explosion of color, achieved through the historic technique of cloisonné enamel in which tiny metal lines are soldered to the surface then filled with glass powders in various colors and fired to create a high gloss finish. The result is a spectacular evocation of the 17th-century originals. Far from mere copies, however, Rückert's designs, such as this tea service, employ naturalistic or abstract motifs in a thoroughly modern adaptation of a remarkable earlier period of Russian art and decoration.
date
1887–96
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q60763171
creators
8894
55332
genreSpecific
Miscellaneous
imageCount
1
source
import
cul
Russia, St. Petersburg
accession
1966.5
Source extras
tec
silver gilt, opaque cloisonné enamel
tombstone
Tea Service, 1887–96. Attributed to Feodor Ivanovich Rückert (Russian, 1840–1917), House of Fabergé (Russian, 1842–1918). Silver gilt, opaque cloisonné enamel. The Cleveland Museum of Art, The India Early Minshall Collection, 1966.500
collection
Decorative Arts
inscriptions
inscription
Various marks.
inscription_remark
All assay marks indicate Moscow between 1882 and 1896 (though that mark continued in use until about 1899), with the exception of the tea caddie, which has a later assay mark of Moscow between 1896 and 1908. All are stamped "Fabergé" in Cyrillic. See component records for exact individual marks.
didYouKnow
This tea service still retains its large wooden presentation box.
citations
citation
Hawley, Henry. <em>Fabergé and His Contemporaries: The India Early Minshall Collection of The Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. Cleveland, Cleveland Museum of Art, 1967.
page_number
Reproduced and mentioned: pp. 124-125, cat. 59a
citation
Harrison, Stephen, Emmanuel Ducamp, and Jeannine J. Falino. <em>Artistic Luxury: Fabergé Tiffany Lalique.</em> Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in association with New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2008.
page_number
Reproduced and mentioned: pp. 30-31, cat. 91
creditline
The India Early Minshall Collection
updatedAt
2026-05-29 07:20:34.424000
sourceId
142809
dept
Decorative Art and Design
coll
Decorative Arts
med
silver gilt, opaque cloisonné enamel
creatorTags
gender unknown
male
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
5e0aaa60c2cd2244