CATHERINE II, Empress of Russia | letter signed, to Prince Potemkin about building the docks at Kherson, 1784

CATHERINE II, OF RUSSIA

LETTER SIGNED (“EKATERINA”), TO HER FAVOURITE, PRINCE GRIGORIY ALEKSANDROVICH [POTEMKIN], ABOUT BUILDING THE BLACK SEA PORT AT KHERSON, 25 JANUARY 1784

In Russian, ordering fifteen thousand roubles to be paid to the carpenters employed on the naval dockyards at Kherson, for the month of February, the sum to be paid in promissory notes from the Saint Petersburg Treasury, granting Potemkin permission to proceed with the matter as he sees fit, 1 page, folio, integral blank, Saint Petersburg, 25 January 1784

"На выдачу при херсонском Адмиралтействе плотникамъ за работныхъ денегъ на февралъ месяцъ сего года потребныя пятнатцать тысячъ рублей, повелыли Мы отпустить въ ваше ведомство ассигнациями изъ Санкть-Петербургскаго для Остаточныхь суммъ казнацеиства, препоручая вамъ въ приеме и употреблении оныхъ зделать зависящее от вас распоряженiе..."

Russia developed ports on the Black Sea during its long series of conflicts with the Ottoman Empire, particularly after its acquisition of the Crimea in 1774. The important naval dockyards at Kherson (on the lower reaches of the River Dnieper), were founded by Potemkin himself in 1778, on the orders of Catherine the Great. It was greatly used during the ensuing conflicts with the Turks.

PROVENANCE:

Christie's New York, 18 May 1984, lot 11.

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