Five Malachite Fireplaces (Works of the Demidov Malachite Factory and Imperial Peterhof Lapidary Factory, 1847–1856)

The article is devoted to the comparative analysis of five works of two factories — the Demidov Malachite Factory and the Imperial Peterhof Lapidary Factory — based on the same model and produced between 1847 and 1856. The author aims to provide an academic description of the recently discovered works, as well as their reliable attributions, referring to documentary sources and confirmed by some previously revealed signs of attribution (the material and character of the mosaic). The author studies the involvement of the invited foreign specialists in the work of both state and private enterprises as well as some aspects of Russian works exhibited at the Great Exhibition in London in 1851. All the works in question have been thoroughly studied: the author conducted a stylistic, technical and technological analysis, as well as material studies of the pieces. A comparison of the details of products, time and place of their creation demonstrates that they follow a single model; also, that they used — though for a limited amount of time — a spectacular and very expensive technology of mosaic; and followed the established tradition of using a certain kind of malachite (relatively light-coloured, speckled with turquoise and contrasting patterns) for the works in the style of the second Rococo. This publication summarizes a six-year search for malachite pieces from the Russian section of the Great Exhibition (London, 1851), produced at the Demidov malachite factory of in Saint Petersburg between 1847 and 1851.