Tsesarevich and Grand Duke Alexander Nikolaevich: An Imperial Champlevé Enameled Gold and Gilt Silver Presentation Icon Lamp (Lampada) for the Chudov Monastery Designed 1850 by Feodor Grigorievich Sol'ntsev (Russian, 1801-1892) Marks and signature of Adolf Leopold Saefftigen (Seftigen) St. Petersburg, 1850 4-3/4 x 3-1/8 inches (12.1 x 7.9 cm) (lampada) 19-3/4 inches (50.2) (length, overall) 523 grams (16.78 troy ounces) (gold, approximate) 173 grams (5.56 troy ounces) (gilt silver, approximate) 696 grams (22.37 troy ounces) (total) PROVENANCE: The Tsesarevich Alexander Nikolaevich (later Emperor Alexander II), 1850; Treasury of the Church of Saint Alexius, Chudov Monastery, the Moscow Kremlin, 1850 – circa 1922; [Likely removed in 1922-1923, and sold abroad]; Acquired by George R. Hann between 1934-1937; Christie's, New York, The George R. Hann Collection, Part I, April 17-18, 1980, lot 165; Acquired by Ruth S. Nelkin for $33,000. EXHIBITED: Pittsburgh, Carnegie Institute, Collection of George R. Hann, January 12-22 February 1944, no. 128; New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Russian Icons from the Collection of George R. Hann, April 16-September 30, 1944. LITERATURE: A. Avinoff, Russian Icons, Carnegie Magazine, vol. XVII, no. 8, 1944, pp. 233-234. Imperial Commission 1849 was an annus horribilis for the Heir-Tsesarevich Grand Duke Alexander Nikolaevich and his wife, Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna, born a princess of Hesse. The young couple were married in April of 1841, and began their large family quickly. Their children, Grand Duchess Alexandra Nikolaevna (born 1842), their eldest son and heir-apparent Grand Duke Nicholas Alexandrovich (born 1843), the Grand Duke Alexander Nikolaevich (born 1845, and later Emperor Alexander III), and the Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich (born 1848) were all healthy and well when the Grand Duchess realized that she was pregnant again in March of that year, but no sooner had she realized this when her daughter developed an illness which was thought to be scarlet fever, but which turned out to be meningitis. Grand Duchess Alexandra died in July at the age of only eight, and the Empress and the entire family were thrown into mourning. Maria Alexandrovna's health deteriorated, and in September, she and the Imperial Family were stunned again by the news that a favorite uncle, Grand Duke Michael Pavlovich, had also died. The Grand Duchess became a source of concern for the entire family as ill health and grief consumed the latter part of her confinement. On January 2 (old style, January 14 N.S.), the couple's fifth child was born, but in very poor health. It appeared at first that the infant would not survive, but after an hour of struggle which worried his family, the infant Grand Duke Alexis Alexandrovich pulled through (cf. Farrow, Lee, Alexis in America, p. 17). To commemorate the much longed for recovery of the Tsesarevna and her son the Grand Duke, the Tsesarevich commissioned a lampada, or icon lamp, to be placed before the tomb of the young Grand Duke's patron, Saint Metropolitan Alexis of Moscow, whose relics had been venerated within the Church of Saint Alexius built within the Chudov Monastery of the Kremlin since 1485. Vasili Olsufiev, Russian Romantic Nationalism and Feodor Sol'ntsev A native Muscovite, Vasili Dmitrievich Olsufiev was the grandson of Catherine the Great's Secretary of State Adam Vasilievich Olsufiev, and well acquainted with the Kremlin complex. As Actual State Councilor in Moscow (1838-1840), he knew and had worked closely with academician and historian Feodor Grigorievich Sol'ntsev since 1832 when Sol'ntsev had been entrusted with the restoration of the Kremlin complex by Emperor Nicholas I. On October 12, 1840, Olsufiev was promoted to Court Marshall of the Household of the Tsesarevich and his family and relocated to St. Petersburg. When it came time to commission a presentation piece. Olsufiev appears to have turned to his old friend Sol'ntsev, likely in no small part to the publication of the first volume of his work "Antiquities of the Russian State" in 1849. Sol'ntsev's publication set Russian imagination and patriotism on fire, and objects inspired by the ancient Russian designs he recorded provided fuel for a rising Russian nationalism which looked to Russia's eastern past rather than its western-aligned present. There was no more ardent supporter of this movement than the Tsesarevich's father, Emperor Nicholas I. Historian Dr. Wendy Salmond notes: "By providing palpable links to Kievan and Muscovite historic figures, dress, and events, Solntsev's drawings affirmed the historical, cultural, and dynastic basis of tsarist rule. An overwhelming emphasis on the hierarchy, symbols, and rites of the Orthodox Church and the Romanov dynasty served to bind the peoples of the Russian Empire together around a single "Great Russian idea," often expressed in the malleable term narodnost' (nationality or pertaining to or embodying the people). Miracle-working icons and imperial regalia reinforced Russia's claim to succeed the Byzantine Empire." (cf. Salmond, Wendy, and Cynthia Hyla Whittaker, Introduction to Visualizing Russia: Fedor Solntsev and Crafting a National Past, edited by Cynthia Hyla Whittaker, Leiden: Brill, 2010.) Olsufiev and Solntsev were successful in the project, and the Imperial couple permitted not only their dedication inscription to be engraved on the piece, but an inscribed identification of the men who were instrumental in creating this exceptional object. In July of 1850, after the completion of this lampada and its installation in Moscow, Olsufiev was granted the position of Chief Chamberlain. After his accession as Emperor in 1855, Alexander II did not forget Olsufiev. In April 1856, he was awarded the Order of Saint Alexander Nevsky with diamonds, and after his work on the coronation celebrations, on August 26, 1856, he was elevated to the dignity of count. Iconographic Symbolism The ring and canopy of the lampada take the form of the Imperial double-headed eagle, a symbol of the emperors of Byzantium adopted by the princes of Muscovy and later by the Russian tsars and emperors. The crowned eagle may be viewed from three sides: on one, the shield bears the arms of Moscow, on the second, the cypher of the Tsesarevich Alexander, and on the last, the cypher of the Tsesarevna Maria. The oblong chains are conjoined by heart-shaped links containing crosses, conjoined symbols of love and faith. The lamp itself bears three engraved icons: The Miracleworker St. Alexis Metropolitan of Moscow, patron saint of the infant Grand Duke; The Mother of God "Joy of All Who Sorrow" (one of the rare icons of the Virgin of entirely Russian origin and without Byzantine precedent), and St. Sylvester of Rome, whose feast day, January 2 (Old Style) was the birthday of the infant Grand Duke. The lamp takes on a form similar to that of the construction of Russian orthodox church tower "kokoshnik" architecture, but inverted, this inventive form allowing gold panels to appear to hang like banners from the hexagonal shoulder of the lamp bearing champleve translucent cobalt enamel strapwork arabesques as ornament. A pendant element has been lost, possibly a precious stone removed before sale abroad. A Dynasty of Goldsmiths While the Imperial patrons, the director of the project, and the designer of the work were clearly identified when the lampada appeared in 1944 and 1980, specialists did not identify the maker of the work. In 1980, Christie's noted the mark might read "AД" for an unknown St. Petersburg maker. The signature "A.F. Saefftigen" [Seftigen] passed unremarked. A recent conservation cleaning removed layers of lacquer from the outer hallmarks revealing a new and unrecorded hallmark of "A*S" on the exterior and interior as well as a scratched interior signature "A. Saefftigen" thus, the goldsmith of the work has now been identified as the Jeweler Adolf Leopoldo Seftigen. The Seftigen family were Swiss jewelers who came to work in Russia in the early part of the 19th century, and the three artists of the family included Carl Seftigen and his two sons, Constantin Friederich and the author of the offered lot, Adolf Leopold. Adolf's brother was the jeweler responsible for the "Small Crown of the Empress" used at the Coronation of Alexander II and Empress Maria Alexandrovna. His brother, Leopold Seftigen, was noted by the magazine "Russian Jeweler" to be the "richest jeweler in St. Petersburg" in the 1880s. In 1859, the firm of Leopold Seftigen became an official supplier to the Russian Imperial court. (cf. Betteley, M. and Schimmelpennick van der Oy, D., Beyond Faberge, Schiffer: Atgen, Pennsylvania, 2020, pp. 132-135) Adolf Seftigen became a master goldsmith in 1849. This appears to be one of his earliest known works, and one of the few surviving Imperial commissions of the Seftigens. After the Revolution After the October Revolution of 1917, the properties of the former Imperial family were nationalized and some turned into museums, their belongings dispersed through redistribution to public collections and to sales abroad. The works of sacred art belonging to the Russian Orthodox Church, however, faced even more uncertain fate in the early days of the fledgling Soviet Socialist republic, as the Bolsheviks were atheists, and church persecution a part of their political platform. In 1918, the Church of Saint Alexius in the Chudov Monastery was closed, and between 1922 and 1923, an inventory of the collection was completed, and the works were transferred to the State Historical Museum, the Tretyakov Gallery, the Rumyantsev Museum, and other Moscow institutions. By the late 1930s many of these works were available for purchase by foreign agents in Europe and the United States. George R. Hann George R. Hann (American 1890-1979) was a pioneer of aviation, and at his Sewickley, Pennsylvania estate "Treetops" he amassed an exceptionally important collection of Russian icons and objects of sacred decorative arts. Hann visited the Soviet Union for business and was able to buy icons and liturgical works directly from the state. When the Hann collection was first exhibited in Pittsburgh and later in New York in 1944, Andrey Avinoff (himself a former court official under Nicholas II and then director of the Carnegie Museum) noted in an article for Carnegie Magazine that: "The most important part of the exhibition is the collection of icons assembled by Mr. Hann during the years 1935-37. This assortment contains pieces from leading Russian galleries and collections known far and wide: The Historical Museum, the Rumiantzev Museum, the collection of A.B. Morozov, and, above all, the Tretyakov Gallery." There is every reason to suspect that the lampada was acquired at the same time from the same sources, and it may be that the piece moved quickly from the tomb of St. Alexis to the warehouses of the State Historical Museum or another Soviet institution directly into Hann's collection. Avinoff also singled out the lampada out as one of the most important examples of goldwork in the exhibition: "Among the metalwork there is a lamp of pure gold with blue enamel, designed by the distinguished artist, Solnzev, the author of the colored plates in the celebrated Antiquities of the Russian Empire. The donors of this precious lamp, which was to be hung at the sepulcher of St. [Alexius], were the Grand Duke Alexander, who later became Emperor Alexander II, and Empress Marie. The presentation was made upon the occasion of the birth of their son, Grand Duke [Alexei], who later became Grand Admiral of the Russian fleet." George R. Hann died in 1979, and his collection was sold in five sections over two days at Christie's New York in 1980. The sale of the Hann collection was one of the most important Russian auctions in the United States up until that time, and Ruth Nelkin acquired two of the most important examples from the sale. Heritage Auctions thanks Valentin Skurlov for his assistance with the research of this lot, and the discovery of a new hallmark of Adolf L. Sefftigen. Property from the Nelkin Collection HID03101062020 © 2024 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved

Heritage Auctions strongly encourages in-person inspection of items by the bidder. Statements by Heritage regarding the condition of objects are for guidance only and should not be relied upon as statements of fact, and do not constitute a representation, warranty, or assumption of liability by Heritage. All lots offered are sold "AS IS"