DALLAS, TX.- Heritage Auctions announced its second major auction of Imperial Faberge & Russian Works of Art, taking place on December 16, featuring three historic consignments: Masterpieces in Russian Enamel from an Important American Private Collection; Property of a Descendant of the Princes Troubetzkoy; and Property from the Kathleen Durdin Collection of Russian Decorative Arts. The auction, featuring nearly 300 lots, is the most important sale of Russian Enamels to come to market in almost three decades.

“Heritage is honored to be able to present these exceptional collections at auction, and we look forward to what has shaped up to be a significant sale,” says Nick Nicholson, Heritage’s Director of Russian Works of Art, “With almost 100 works by Fabergé and more than 75 by enameler Feodor Rückert, it is an outstanding chance for collectors to acquire museum-level masterpieces, many of which have not been seen in decades.”

Among the auction’s significant offerings, the Masterpieces of Russian Enamel from an American Collection is a centerpiece. “This is quite simply the most important collection offered in many years,” says Nicholson. “Beginning in the 1980s, one American family began to collect the works of Fabergé, Ovchinnikov, Khlebnikov, Rückert, Semenova and other masters of the art of Russian enamel.” The collection contains 200-plus important pieces with more than 50 works by Fabergé, 80 works by Feodor Rückert and masterpieces from the firms of Khlebnikov, Ovchinnikov, Semenova, Bolin, Blank, Hahn and others. Many of these works set records at the time they were purchased, and not since the important sales of the Greenfield Collection at Christie’s in 1998 and the Chen Collection in London in 2008 has such an important private collection been offered.

One highlight from this collection is a Russian En Plein and Cloisonné Enameled Gem-Set Gilt Silver Casket, after Ilya Repin's Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks, dated 1908-1917. This casket, a masterwork by the Khlebnikov firm, centers an en plein enamel reduction of the first version Ilya Repin's famous work Reply of the Zaporizhian Cossacks painted between 1880 and 1891. The work was purchased by Emperor Alexander III and hung in the Winter Palace until Nicholas II donated it in 1897 to the Russian Museum, where it has been ever since. Another leading lot from this important collection is a En Plein and Cloisonné Enameled Gilt Silver Casket, after Makovsky's Boyar Wedding. It’s one of several works in which Feodor Rückert visited and revisited the theme of Makovsky's famous 1883 painting A Boyar Wedding Feast in the Seventeenth Century, and on December 16 it’s joined by this outstanding Fabergé Three-Piece Russian Pan-Slavic Cloisonné Enameled Gilt Silver Tea Service. Attributed to Rückert,this extraordinary service has long been regarded as the epitome of the artist’s best work in the Pan-Slavic Style. Another Fabergé masterwork attributed Rückert is a Cloisonné Enameled Gilt Silver Horse-Form Handled Kovsh, circa 1910. With its horse-form silhouetted handle and all-over decoration, it is a novel interpretation of the "Old Russian" style in which Rückert lends an Art Nouveau feel to the whirling lilies that decorate the sides of this traditionally shaped vessel. Its provenance is exceptional. “Research has revealed that the piece was shipped abroad for sale, and was purchased by H.H. Ganga Singh, the Maharajah of Bikaner, GCSI, GCIE, GCVO, GBE, KCB, GCStJ, from the London branch of Fabergé on July 1, 1911 at a cost of 41 guineas,” says Nicholson.

An extraordinary offering in this auction comes from the Property of a Descendant of the Princes Troubetzkoy: “Boar,” a Russian Enameled Gilt Bronze Box from the 'Enchanted Beasts' Series by Princess Maria Tenisheva, is dated 1908. Maria Tenisheva founded an artists' colony which developed its own aesthetic grammar and became one of the preeminent artistic and cultural centers of Russia's Arts and Crafts movement. After the Russian Revolution of 1905 in which the compound was rocked by social turmoil, Tenisheva moved to Paris and there her work in highly creative enamels reached new heights. “In 1908, she completed a series of seven works that her friend, the artist Nikolai Roerich, christened the 'Enchanted Beasts' which are now counted amongst her masterpieces,” says Nicholson.

Porcelain from the Kathleen Durdin Collection of Russian Decorative Arts is another foundation of this auction. “We are thrilled that Kathleen Durdin chose Heritage to offer a carefully curated selection of works from her private collection,” says Nicholson. “Kathleen Durdin has been a well-known and passionate collector of Russian porcelain and works of art since the 1990s, and objects from her collection have been exhibited around the country.”

This group of carefully selected works from the 18th and 19th centuries contains rare and unusual pieces from the Russian Imperial Porcelain Factory from her private collection, many new to the market. Among the highlights of this collection is this Faience Plate, after the Golden Plate of Tsar Alexis Mikhailovich from the Yusupov Porcelain Factory, Arkhangelskoye, Moscow, circa 1825-1830. The factory, founded in 1815 by Prince Nikolai Borisovich Yusupov, was not created for commercial purposes, but rather to produce porcelain for the prince's own collection and as gifts for the aristocracy. Works in faience by the factory are exceedingly rare and were produced only until 1831. Also from this collection is a Porcelain Pictorial Plate featuring a Portrait of Tsesarevna & Grand Duchess Natalia Alexeievna, After Voille. It comes from the Imperial Porcelain Factory during the Period of Catherine II, circa 1776.The plate depicts the Tsesarevna and Grand Duchess Natalia Alexeievna in a beautiful reduction of the portrait by Jean-Louis Voille painted between 1773-1775, which is now in the collection of the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. Memorial works like this one served to reinforce the message that the Grand Duchess was beloved and mourned despite court innuendo to the contrary.

A Thirteen-Piece Russian Porcelain Tea Set from the Hunting Service comes from the Durdin Collection: It was created in the Imperial Porcelain Factory, St. Petersburg during the Period of Alexander II, circa 1870. As Nicholson notes, “The ‘Hunting Service’ was ordered from Meissen for the Oranienbaum Hunting palace by Empress Catherine II and originally comprised over one thousand pieces. It was the second-largest table service produced by Meissen in the 18th century.” The empress and subsequent sovereigns found the service so beautiful that replacements and augmentations were made throughout the 19th century.

The auction, while anchored by the above historic consignments, also offers extraordinary lots from a variety of collectors who have invested in the legacy of significant Russian works. Among the highlights are exceptional early enamels from Solvychegodsk and Velikii Ustiug from the 17th and 18th centuries, works of art by Fabergé with Imperial provenances, Imperial porcelain, silver, niello, bronzes, an icon from the Hann Collection, and works on paper by Roerich and Makovsky among others.

A Fabergé Art Nouveau Matte Enameled, Gold-Mounted and Diamond-Set Rock Crystal Frame from 1898 is an exceptional example of the quality of the objects produced by the Moscow workshops in a realm usually dominated by the workmasters of St. Petersburg. A late 17th-century Gilt Silver Bowl of Russian Usol'sk Enamel from Solvychegodskillustrates episodes from the Gospel of Luke; the sources of the images may have been derived from domestic luboki, have been drawn from European prints, or were perhaps entirely original from the Usol'sk enameller.

And this tempera and ink on paper composition, a costume design for the production Tsar Saltan or "Tsarevich Gvidon,” circa 1919-1920, by symbolist painter and stage designer Nicholas Roerich, was a commission with a complex backstory and fascinating provenance. Sir Thomas Beecham asked the artist to design sets and costumes for Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's opera The Tale of Tsar Saltan at the Royal Opera House in London. “Roerich began working on this project in July 1919, and by October he had completed three dozen designs and costume sketches, characterized by his distinct style, combining elements of Russian folklore with Eastern influence.” But the production was canceled due to financial issuesand Tsar Saltan would not see a British premiere until 1933. Roerich departed for the United States with over 400 artworks, including the above lot, and embarked on an exhibition tour that began in New York. The sketches for the unrealized production of Tsar Saltan joined others in the collection of the Roerich Museum in New York and were on exhibition from 1925-1935 before passing into the noted collection of celebrated collectors Louis and Nettie Horch.

“Heritage is deeply honored to be entrusted with the sale of these major American collections from well-known connoisseurs in the field,” says Nicholson.