A Grachev Plique-à-Jour, Cloisonné, and Champlevé Enameled Gilt Silver Icon Lamp or Lampada Grachev, Workmaster's marks in Cyrillic AP, St. Petersburg, before 1899 36 x 4-7/8 inches (91.4 x 12.4 cm) 1573 grams (gross) PROVENANCE: Acquired by George R. Hann between 1934-1937; Christie's, New York, The George R. Hann Collection, Part I, April 17-18, 1980, lot 164; Acquired by Ruth S. Nelkin for $33,000. EXHIBITED: Pittsburgh, Carnegie Institute, Collection of George R. Hann, January 12-February 22, 1944, no. 136; 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: Collection of George R. Hann, Carnegie Institute: Pittsburgh, 1944, no. 136; A. Avinoff, Russian Icons, Carnegie Magazine, vol. XVII, no. 8, 1944, pp. 233-234. This exceptional lampada is a masterpiece of the house of Grachev and may be compared to a chancel light or standing icon lamp in the collection of the Hillwood Museum, Washington DC. (illus. Betteley & Schimmelpennick van der Oy, p. 146). The two lamps share the "column and arch" form, and both depict the "Virgin of the Sign" but while the Hillwood example is purely in plique-à-jour, the offered lot from the Hann collection effortlessly combines three separate enamel techniques to create a harmonious whole. Avinoff noted that George Hann acquired this work between 1934 and 1937, likely from one of the Moscow musems which had received pieces from the former Imperial collections. The iconography lends tantalizing credence to an Imperial association. The Virgin of the Sign (Znamenie) is associated with the Church favored by Empress Alexandra at Tsarskoe Selo, and the lamp bears the patron saints of the Empress and her daughter Olga (born in 1895, contemporary to this lamp). The Martyr Feodor the Varangian and St. Tsar Feodor, and Sts. Semyon and Evdokia, however, are somewhat enigmatic. Property from the Nelkin Collection HID03101062020 © 2024 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved

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