A rosewood, porcelain and gilt-bronze writing cabinet, Peter and Ernst Gambs and the Imperial Porcelain Manufactory, St Petersburg, Period of Nicholas I (1825-1855), circa 1842

herringbone veneered and richly applied throughout with moulded and painted floral and scroll elements, the upright upper section with canted corners and ogee cornice, the front inset with a plaque painted after Carl Timoleon von Neff's Two Girls in National Dress (1838), signed in Cyrillic 'Nikolai Frolov' and dated 1842, within a foliate scroll frame, the back inset with a plaque painted with a young lady and her maid, signed with Cyrillic initials P.N: for Pavel Nesterov, each side with a plaque painted with summer flowers on a cream ground in an oval reserve within raised and gilded flowery scrolls on white grounds, the front and back pediments of painted floral cartouches within bleu celeste and gold rocaille scrolls and moulded pink and white flowers, the corners applied with gilded female herms within scrolls, above bold bracket scroll feet, the front opening to reveal the writing surface lined with blue velvet, the interior fitted with two long and two short drawers with turned ivory pulls below six storage compartments; the conforming table with front and back aprons of floral cartouches within scrolls, above double scroll legs, the upper C-scrolls of exuberantly modelled porcelain terminating in bouquets of vari-coloured moulded flowers, the lower rosewood-veneered S-scrolls above porcelain bracket supports, resting on a rounded rectangular quarter-veneered stretcher shelf, gilt scroll feet, each apron with blue Imperial cypher of Nicholas I

Almost certainly an Imperial commission, the present lot is one of a small group of nearly identical writing cabinets, all of which were produced on the orders of Emperor Nicholas I and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna for members of their family.  They were all made by Court cabinetmaker Peter Gambs and his brother Ernst, incorporating porcelain from the Imperial Manufactory, at a time when the dowries of the Imperial daughters were being furnished. 

That most closely related is the writing cabinet (figs. 1 and 2) of Grand Duchess Alexandra Nikolaevna, made for her lavish dowry in preparation for her marriage to Prince Frederick William of Hesse, which took place in St. Petersburg on 28 January 1844.  It is recorded in the porcelain section of the dowry lists, and archival records indicate that the Gambs Brothers were paid 301 rubles and 42 kopeks for the carpentry (see A. Dobler et al., Die Mitgift einer Zarentochter: Meisterwerke russischer Kunst des Historismus, 1997, ex. cat. no. 55, pp. 194-195).  It remains in the collection at Schloss Fasanerie, Eichenzell. 

When Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna wed the future King of Württemberg, Crown Prince Charles, on 13 July 1846, her dowry included a wall-mounted version of this model, which appears in Johann Caspar Obach’s 1854 watercolour of her private apartments at Neuen Schloss (fig. 3).  It is recorded in the furniture, rather than the porcelain, section of her dowry lists, and is today at the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart (see Im Glanz der Zaren: Die Romanows, Württemberg und Europa, Landesmuseum Württemberg, 2014, ex. cat., pp. 240-241).  For a porcelain-set dressing table by the Gambs Brothers which also formed part of Olga Nikolaevna's dowry, please see Sotheby's London, 12 June 2007, lot 341.

A further wall-mounted example was ordered by the Empress and given to her sister-in-law, Grand Duchess Anna Pavlovna, Queen of the Netherlands.  This cabinet, like the present lot, incorporates a plaque painted by Nesterov, this one dated 1845.  It is in the collection at Het Loo Palace, Apeldoom (illustrated, Une Passion Royale pour l’Art: Guillaume II des Pays-Bas et Anna Pavlovna, Villa Vauban, Luxembourg, 2014, ex. cat. no. 212).

The painting reproduced by Frolov on this cabinet, Two Girls in National Dress, by the Emperor’s favourite artist Carl Timoleon von Neff, was in Empress Alexandra Feodorovna’s private collection at Anichkov Palace, further supporting an Imperial provenance for the present lot.  It is today in the collection of the Russian Museum (inv. no. Zh.-2971), transferred from the Hermitage in 1928.  As Frolov’s specialty was painting military views, it seems possible that he may have been diverted from his usual work by an important commission.  The painting of the young lady and her maid reproduced on the plaque at the back of the cabinet is at present unidentified, the original possibly lost.  It was reproduced at least one other time by the Imperial Porcelain Manufactory, on a plaque painted by Nikolai Semenov in 1843 (sold, Gelos Moscow, 26 November 2010, lot 115).  Curiously, the seated lady in the picture bears a resemblance to both Alexandra Nikolaevna and her sister Olga.

The design of these cabinets is attributable to chief Court architect Andrei Stackenschneider.  The cross-cut rosewood veneers, canted corners, gilt-bronze mounts, cartouche cresting, and the incorporation of porcelain plaques appear in his design for the large cabinet in the Pink Drawing Room at the Winter Palace, made by Gavril Alexandrov in 1846.     

We are grateful to Antoine Chenevière, Andreas Dobler and Galina Korneva for their assistance in cataloguing this lot.