The STaTe hermiTage muSeum annual reporT

compoSiTion of The hermiTage collecTionS as of 1 January 2011
The State Hermitage Museum inventory contains
2,970,214 items
Including:
paintings 16,851
graphic works 622,172
sculptures 12,623
objects of applied art 301,512
archaeological artifacts 738,389
numismatic objects 1,132,627
other items 146,040
2,880 exhibits (as per inventory) entered the
State Hermitage Museum in 2010 as gifts and
acquisitions through the museum’s Purchasing
Commission and archaeological expeditions.
In 2010 the Research Library of the State Hermitage
Museum purchased 4,110 books as well
as Russian and foreign magazines of 235 names
and received 2,520 editions through the international
and Russian book exchanges.
1,433 publications were sent to other libraries
in accordance with the international book
exchange terms.
J moST noTaBle acQuiSiTionS of 2010
collecTion of decoraTive porcelain
from The pariS gallery popov & co.
149 items
Acquired through the Purchasing Commission
The collection, as well as the gallery itself, was founded
by Alexander Popov, whose extraordinary talent was nourished
by Russian cultural ideals, including the admiration
of eighteenth-century art. As a professional officer, Popov
took part in the First World War. He moved to France in
1919 and a year later opened an antiques shop opposite
the Élysée Palace. In 1935, the gallery won the first honorary
Paris Grand Prix for the exceptionally high quality
of the works exhibited there. Many items are well known:
they have been successfully displayed at international exhibitions
and repeatedly published.
The historical and cultural phenomenon that is this art
collection was formed for nearly a century in the circle of
prominent émigré Russians. Among Alexander Popov’s
friends were Alexander Benois, Zinaida Serebryakova,
Konstantin Somov, Yuri Annenkov, Feodor Chaliapin,
Konstantin Korovin, Serge Lifar, Dmitry Bouchéne, Sergei
Ernst, Natalia Goncharova, and many other eminent cultural
figures who found themselves in Paris after the October
revolution. These acquaintances largely explain the
fact that the collection mainly acquired objects brought
from Russia by emigrants. The Popov Gallery obtained
works of art from the splendid collections of the Princes
Saltykov, Dolgorukov, Beloselsky-Belozersky, Orlov, the
Duke of Leuchtenberg and many others.
Objects from a coffee service with Cupids. Early 1760s
Plate from the Yacht Service. 1785–1787
The Popov & Co Gallery has always taken special pride in
its unique porcelain. Alexander Popov himself was an accepted
connoisseur in this field. His collection was highly
praised by Alexander Benois: “… Mr. Popov has assembled
his own collection of Russian porcelain, which numbers
hundreds of pieces and contains a multitude of objects
which has never before been seen in private collections
and which could be envied even by such museums as the
Hermitage” (1952). The then Director and Curator of the
Hermitage Sergei Troynitsky visited the Paris gallery several
times. The most important and interesting part of the
acquired set is the Russian porcelain of the second half
of the 18th century, first and foremost among which are the
products of the St. Petersburg Imperial Porcelain Factory:
Jug painted in the chinoiserie style. Early 1760s
Soup plate from Empress Elizabeth’s Personal Dinner and Dessert Service.
At the earliest 1756 – early 1760s
– early porcelain pieces dating back to the reign of Empress
Elizabeth;
– pieces from tea and coffee sets, plates, basins and bowls
for cooling bottles and glasses, with stamps in the shape
of double-headed eagles made by Dmitry Vinogradov, the
inventor of Russian porcelain;
– a plate signed by the court manufactory painter G. Nikiforov,
which is the first known signed specimen from the
St. Petersburg Factory (late 1750s – early 1760s);
– a typical example of the Vinogradov period – an Easter
egg with “floral painting” (1750s), decorated in a highly
detailed way betraying the manner of Elizabethan masters;
– a number of pieces from a series known as “series with
polychrome Chinamen” (late 1750s – early 1760s), among
Easter egg with a floral design. 1750s
most notable acquIsItIons of 2010
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