The Tsars' Porcelain
Exhibition
The life of a monarch is always full of daily cares: running the country, signing decrees, entering into military and diplomatic alliances, receiving foreign delegations and many other important matters. With this kind of life, a coffee break or dinner with your family is a special treat, an aesthetic pleasure, because all the meals in palaces were always served with great taste and splendor.
What did the favorite cup of the Russian Empress Elizaveta Petrovna look like? What plates were used to serve Alexander I his dessert? Why did Nikolai I love his Gothic dinner service so much? What tableware did Russian emperors use during wedding banquets and sea trips aboard the royal yacht Derzhava? Why did making the Rafael service take twenty long years? You will find answers to these and other questions at the Tsar Porcelain exhibition.
The project, telling the story of imperial Russia, its rulers and court life traditions in porcelain and color, is a result of fruitful cooperation between the Hermitage and the National Museum of Serbia.
The exposition focuses on the famous festive dinnerware sets that were used during dinners and functions at the Winter Palace and other imperial residences. These beautiful items were lovingly replicated by professional sculptors and artists from the historic treasures kept in the Hermitage collection. The masterpieces created by Russian master craftsmen during the second half of the 18th — the beginning of the 20th centuries were replicated with the tiniest nuances of the complex shapes, plastic and pictorial décor of the originals.
The exhibits demonstrated at the Tsar Porcelain exhibition are connected with the reign of almost every Russian emperor — from Elizaveta Petrovna to Nikolai II.
All these decorative art masterpieces were created by the Imperial Porcelain Factory (IPF) in Saint-Petersburg. From the onset of its work in 1744 and until the revolution of 1917, it was the official supplier of the Russian Imperial Court and it was here that exquisite service ensembles bearing the monograms of the ruling monarchs were born. Magnificent dinner, dessert, tea and coffee sets made at the IPF were adorned with fine polychrome painting, delicate molded elements and luxurious gilding.
Cups, plates, vases and table décor were not simply splendid Imperial household articles. These porcelain creations reflected the personal tastes of their crowned owners, popular artistic styles and global art trends, level of industry development, meaningful historic events and social ideas.
Along with porcelain, visual art will be an important guide to the Imperial Russia at the National Museum of Serbia. Replicas and modern media versions of canvases from the hermitage collection will make the exposition complete by adding portraits of emperors, beautiful images of royal residences, court feasts and festivities.
The project, telling the story of imperial Russia, its rulers and court life traditions in porcelain and color, is a result of fruitful cooperation between the Hermitage and the National Museum of Serbia.
The exposition focuses on the famous festive dinnerware sets that were used during dinners and functions at the Winter Palace and other imperial residences. These beautiful items were lovingly replicated by professional sculptors and artists from the historic treasures kept in the Hermitage collection. The masterpieces created by Russian master craftsmen during the second half of the 18th — the beginning of the 20th centuries were replicated with the tiniest nuances of the complex shapes, plastic and pictorial décor of the originals.
The exhibits demonstrated at the Tsar Porcelain exhibition are connected with the reign of almost every Russian emperor — from Elizaveta Petrovna to Nikolai II.
All these decorative art masterpieces were created by the Imperial Porcelain Factory (IPF) in Saint-Petersburg. From the onset of its work in 1744 and until the revolution of 1917, it was the official supplier of the Russian Imperial Court and it was here that exquisite service ensembles bearing the monograms of the ruling monarchs were born. Magnificent dinner, dessert, tea and coffee sets made at the IPF were adorned with fine polychrome painting, delicate molded elements and luxurious gilding.
Cups, plates, vases and table décor were not simply splendid Imperial household articles. These porcelain creations reflected the personal tastes of their crowned owners, popular artistic styles and global art trends, level of industry development, meaningful historic events and social ideas.
Along with porcelain, visual art will be an important guide to the Imperial Russia at the National Museum of Serbia. Replicas and modern media versions of canvases from the hermitage collection will make the exposition complete by adding portraits of emperors, beautiful images of royal residences, court feasts and festivities.