Tsarevich Alexei and his Tutor Sydney Gibbes: Two Lampadas (Icon Lamps). Comprising two open work icon lamps; the first of silver, pierced and sawn, set with the scrolling S form handles, with stepped canopy, Dmitry Vasilyevich Makhalov, Moscow, 1882, 84 standard; the second, of silver plated brass, Bros. Henneberg, Warszawa, circa 1900. Accompanied by a handwritten letter from George Paveliev Gibbes (the adoptive son of Charles Gibbes), dated 1989 stating that the silver icon lampada hung in front of an icon the Empress had given to Gibbes and that the plated lamp had hung in front of a mosaic icon of the Savior, a black and white photograph of Gibbes when he had become Archimandrite Nicholas (he had become a Russian Orthodox monk taking the name of Nicholas in honor of Tsar Nicholas II). The letter and photo matted and with glass, lacking frame. Also included is a copy of the book The Romanovs & Mr. Gibbes, Frances Welch, 2002. Overall length of the silver lampada including chain 21 in. (53 cm) and of the brass lampada 17 ¾ in. (45 cm). Charles Sydney Gibbes was a British academic who from 1908 to 1917 served as the English tutor to the children of Emperor Nicholas II. When Nicholas abdicated the throne in 1917 Gibbes voluntarily accompanied the Imperial family into exile, but was quickly separated from the Imperial party and spent close to a year trying to re-establish contact. Only days after the family was murdered, Gibbes was able to make his way to Ekaterinburg. He visited the Ipatiev House several times, picking up and preserving a number of items that the Bolsheviks had failed to destroy in their haste to leave the city. By tradition, these lamps are among the discarded items he preserved. After his conversion to Orthodox Christianity in 1934, he eventually became a monk, taking the name of Father Nicholas in honor of Nicholas II. After World War II, he purchased a house in Oxford, England on Marston Street within which he established a chapel to St Nicholas the Wonderworker. The house subsequently became known as Saint Nicholas House and the chapel and interior were furnished in part with several icons and mementos of the Imperial family, including a number of items rescued from the Ipatiev House.
Dmitry Makhalov (Postnikova-Loseva no. 2417) is known for at least one other lampada in the collection of the State Historical Museum, Moscow. The Brothers Henneberg brass and bronze manufactory was founded in Warsaw in Bros. Henneberg. It was founded in 1856 by former workers at Fraget and came to be the third largest producer of silver plate in Imperial Russia after Fraget and Norblin.

The lampadas with wear consistent with age and use; books, letter, and photo in excellent condition