Our Notes & References

The first Russian book dedicated specifically to the production of faience, with a whole section on Wedgwood – one of its earliest mentions in Russian.

A fine example of this only edition, in contemporary binding and with contemporary provenance.

Very rare: Worldcat does not locate any holding, neither could we trace any copy passing through the market over the last decades. Three copies are held in the main Russian libraries (RNB, RGB, GPIB), and one is at the National Parliamentary Library of Georgia.

A fascinating overview of the latest and most innovative faience techniques of the time, and a succinct encyclopedia of faience production. Dzhunkovskii (1767-1826) — a physician, philologist, bibliographer, rector of the Imperial Kharkov University, and prolific translator of scientific books into Russian — begins with an excursion into the history of faience, the distinction from porcelain, and the economic benefits of production and export of faience. He cites the works of Johann von Justi on the use of soapstone (Lapis steatites), Louis- Augustin Bosc d’Antic on the best types of faience, Louis François Ollivier’s patent series for new faience methods in 1800, and the German-Russian scientist Dr. Hamel, member of the London Philosophical Society who reported on the biscuit method to the Russian government in 1814, the year our book was published.

The author points out (p. 6) that by 1812, there were already around 60 faience factories in Russia: 47 in the Moscow region, and some in St Petersburg, Minsk, and Kiev (Imperial Kiev-Mezhigorsk faience factory). The Kiev faience was considered to be of superior quality, but remained sub-standard to English faience.

In order to bring the Russian faience to the next level, members of the Free Economic Society (for the Encouragement of Agriculture and Husbandry, the first Russian non-governmental charity) commissioned Dzhunkovskii to collect the best technical advice from foreign and (very scarce) Russian sources, for the use in the Kiev and other Russian factories; the result is our book, printed by the State Press.

Dzhunkovskii describes English and French methods of faience modelling, Italian techniques of faience painting with a list of specific pigments, German experiments, as well different types of ovens including the French carneaux, or vented kilns. Dzhunkovskii discusses experimentation with fine clay conducted in Hartford, Connecticut, the discoveries of Jean-Antoine Chaptal, and Paul Utzschneider and his faience of Sarreguemines (Utzschneider was the father-in-law of Alexandre de Geiger, who collaborated with Villeroy & Boch).

A section is devoted to Wedgwood: the book describes its uniqueness, failed attempts of other manufacturers to imitate it (including one nearly successful venture, by Lampadius). Wedgwood became famous in Russia after Catherine II ordered an imperial set from Josiah Wedgwood, for her Chesmensky palace near Tsarskoe Selo. Wedgwood’s companion Thomas Bentley compiled a handwritten catalogue of drawings especially for the Empress. The so-called “green frog” set was designed for 50 people, with 944 pieces: 680 for the dining part and 264 for the dessert. The full set cost the Imperial Treasury an unthinkable 16,406 rubles; it was this purchase that elevated the Russian court as ceramics connoisseurs, and launched the exploration for domestic manufacture of faience.

Our book contains the plate depicting the English oven, which is followed by a detailed three-page key.

Provenance

‘K. Ivan Tiufiakin’ (Prince Ivan Petrovich Tiufiakin (1740-1819) oversaw the construction of the Catherine Palace in Moscow; ink inscription to title).

Bibliography

Gennadi Slovar I p. 299; Plavilshchikov 974; Svod. Kat. 1801—1825, 2330; Smirdin 5255; Russkii biograficheskii slovar A. A. Polovtsova, 1896-1913, VI-1905.