A Russian Neoclassical Ormolu-Mounted Malachite Urn circa 1830

Sold, Christie's New York, October 26, 1994, lot 45

The present vase closely relates to other examples designed by the Saint Petersburg architect-designer I. I. Gal'berg in the second quarter of the 19th century; the design for a virtually identical vase by Gal'berg, dated 1826, is illustrated in V.B. Semyonov, Malachite, 1987, Book 1, p. 139, ill. 22 (see below). 

The design reflects the passion in Russia in the early 19th century for furniture and objects veneered in malachite, large deposits of which had been discovered on the western slopes of the Ural Mountains; for further discussion of this see, A. Chenevière, Russian Furniture of The Golden Age 1780-1840, 1988, pp. 264-269.