The Czetwertynska family crest
The Naryshkin family crest
THE NARYSHKIN CZETWERTYNSKA DECANTERS, Russian, circa 1815
Further images
A pair of Alexander I polychrome enamelled cut glass decanters from The Imperial Glassworks, St. Petersburg
Note: The body of each decanter is enamelled with the combined Naryshkin and Czetwertynska family crests. The decanters retain their original stoppers, numbered 12 and 16 respectively.
Maria Czetwertynska was the mistress of Alexander I for nearly twenty years and bore several illegitimate children by him. A Polish princess in her own right, she married Dmitry Lvovich Naryshkin, who belonged to one of the most influential and important aristocratic families in the history of imperial Russia. The decanters were part of a lavish banquet service made in the Imperial Glassworks in St. Petersburg.
The exceptional quality of the heavy glass and deep cutting is further enhanced by the execution of the crests, which are engraved and polychrome enamelled with gold on the reverse side of a glass disk. The disk was then fused to the outside of the decanter body, leaving a smooth finish inside and out.
A single decanter from the same set was sold at auction in 2010 for $32,500.
Provenance
Dmitry Lvovich Naryshkin and his wife Maria, née Czetwertynska, mistress to Emperor Alexander I;
Private collection, USA.
Literature
Paul Jokelson and Dena K. Tarshis, ‘Cameo Incrustation: The Great Sulphide Show’, exhibition catalogue, 1988, p. 23, no. 55.
Dena K. Tarshis, Objects of Fantasy: Glass Inclusions of the Nineteenth Century, 2001, p. 151, no. 84.
Christie’s, ‘Russian Works of Art’, sale catalogue, New York, 16 April 2012, lot 117.
