Tale of the Humpbacked Pony: The Tsar’s Promotion of Ivan
Fedoskino, Russia, 1989
Lacquered box on pip feet with hinged cover, the box overall black with gilt friezes on edge of cover and bottom of sides, the interior lacquered red, the cover painted in oils with gold leaf and metallic powders and inlays of mother-of-pearl. The box 8.0 x 28.8 x 22.2 cm (3-1/4 x 11-3/8 x 8-3/4 in.) overall, exclusive of pip feet on bottom. The painting inscribed in Cyrillic, “c. Fedoskino 1989 g.,” lower left, and signed “Ilyin L.,” lower right. Condition: Slight scuffing and scratches on surface of painting, a 5 mm scratch in building roof upper middle, several bare chips on edges of box, one of the pip feet missing, overall in excellent condition notwithstanding the edge chipping, the painting overall very fine.
This box is from the “Golden Age” of the 20th century resurgence of Fedoskino, which, under Ivan Korobov and his son-in-law Piotr Lukutin in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, was the birthplace of Russian lacquer art. As in this example, the workmanship of the Lukutin embraced highly artistic painting in oils with very fine, dense brushwork and gold leaf and metallic powders showing through translucent paint. Our example was painted by Leonid Ilyin, professor of the school at Fedoskino, after the celebrated original design by the older master Viktor Antonov, executed 1959 (see Malakhov, op. cit., pl. 145). It depicts the tale of the Humpbacked Pony (Konyok-garbunok), a famed fairy-tale poem by Pyotr Pavlovich Yershov (1815-1869) extolled by Pushkin. The Tsar bought the two magnificent golden-maned steeds from Ivan at the fair only to find that they then stayed with Ivan rather than follow the Tsar’s grooms back to the stables. In the present scene the Tsar solves the problem by appointing Ivan stable-master in place of the chamberlain. The chamberlain later spied on Ivan and in revenge told the Tsar that Ivan, having found a feather of the Firebird, boasted that he could captivate even the Firebird as well. The Tsar then admonished Ivan to find and bring the Firebird itself or lose his head, a reversal which the present scene presages by depicting the Firebird’s feather in Ivan’s hand, the menacing axe-head above the Tsar’s crown and the faithful pony, whose plan would find and catch the Firebird, at Ivan’s feet.
Provenance: Estate of Jack J. Dreyfus, Jr.
Literature:
Malakhov, Nikolai, Fedoskino [trans. Tatyana Butkova], Moscow,
1990, plate 145.
Maxym, Lucy, Russian Lacquer, Legends and Fairy Tales, vol. 1,
Hicksville, N.Y., 1981, pp. 19-25.
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Price: $1,750
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