- 155
A Soviet Propaganda Porcelain Plate: The Commissar, The State Porcelain Factory, Petrograd, 1921
Estimate
15,000 - 20,000 USD
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Description
- with Uritsky Square, Petrograd painted in Cyrillic around the border, the underside with blue overglaze factory mark, dated 1921, signed with the Cyrillic monogram MZ, possibly for factory painter Maria Zabotkina, and with the Cyrillic phrase "after a des[ign] by Shchekotikhina and with green Imperial cypher for Nicholas II dated 1907
- Porcelain
- Diameter 9 in.
- 23 cm
after a design by the artist Alexandra Shchekotikhina-Pototskaia, the Commissar dressed in jodhpurs, military jacket, and lace-up boots holding a file in his hand as he strides across Palace Square (then known as Uritsky Square) with the General Staff Building and the Alexander Column in the background
Condition
no apparent damage
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.
Catalogue Note
Shchekotikhina-Pototskaia's rapid brushwork and folk-influenced designs made this view of a Commissar, one of the new masters of Soviet society, a popular design and it was frequently copied both for distribution within Soviet Russia as well as for exhibitions abroad. The commissar was a position introduced by Leon Trotsky during the Civil War. They oversaw the political education of the troops and the loyalty of commanding officers, many of whom had served in the Imperial army. The commissars held no official position in the military but could overrule a commanding officer's order if they suspected him of counter-revolutionary activity. Between 1918 and 1944, the now renamed Palace Square was redesignated in honor of Moisei Uritsky (1873-1918), the Commissar of Petrograd's Constituent Assembly and Head of the city's branch of the ChEKA, who was assassinated there on August 30, 1918 by Leonid Kanegisser, a military cadet and member of the political opposition. The event was the prelude to the so-called "Red Terror." For other editions of this plate, see T. Kudryavtseva, Circling the Square: Avant-Garde Porcelain from Revolutionary Russia, London, 2004, p.117, cat. 100 and T.N. Nosovich and I.P. Popova, Gosudarstvennyi farforovyi zavod, 1904-1944, St. Petersburg, 2005, p. 249.