Still Life with Teapot and Tray dates to the early period of Konchalovsky’s creative career, characterised by a sophisticated synthesis of Western modernism with distinctly national elements of Russian folk art. Inspired by the Post-Impressionists and Fauves, the artist turns to the still life genre, becoming increasingly preoccupied with the portrayal of the material essence of objects. Fascinated by the diversity and painterly possibilities of everyday items, Konchalovsky introduces examples of Russian folk craft into his compositions. The red decorative backgrounds of Zhostovo trays and Khokhloma tableware dominate the artist’s still lifes from this period. The tray depicted in the present composition also features in his 1910 Still Life, now in the collection of Perm State Art Gallery (fig.1). The artist’s enthusiasm for both Russian folk art and contemporary French art reflected the artistic principals of the Bubnovy valet. As a founding member of the group, Konchalovsky supported its aspiration to 'restore simplicity, naiveté... and clear colour' to art. By combining both influences, Konchalovsky establishes a dialogue between Slavic traditions and Western modernity.

The present work comes from the family collection of Alexander Schick. A lawyer by profession, Alexander Schick was born into a well-to-do merchant family with a house on Tverskaya. He studied in Heidelberg and Moscow and was heavily involved in the cultural life of the Russian capital in the 1910s. He wrote for local and foreign journals and became acquainted with many artists, whose work he collected. Each purchase was meticulously recorded in his collector’s notebook (fig.2). According to these notes, the present work listed as Nature Morte No.19 was acquired at auction in Moscow held in support of the released political prisoners following the extensive amnesty campaign carried out by Alexander Kerensky’s Provisional Government of 1917.

Firmly opposed to the Bolshevik cause, Schick was briefly jailed after the Revolution. He managed to send his wife and daughter to Riga in 1923, joining them the following year. The present painting was among thirty works the collector managed to bring with him via Riga and Berlin to Paris where the family settled in 1933. In Paris, Schick became a well-known figure of the émigré Russian community.

A surviving black and white photograph of Alexander Schick’s apartment in Paris features Still Life with Teapot and Tray hanging alongside other works from his collection (fig.3).