Lot 204: Sergei Sergeevich Solomko, 1867-1928 , the meeting watercolour and gouache on ivory

signed in Cyrillic and dated Roma 993 l.r. watercolour and gouache on ivory

10 by 10cm., 4 by 4in.

Miniature paintings by the artist and illustrator Sergei Solomko are frequently reproduced on cloisonné enamel works by Fedor Rückert. He formed part of a group of talented artists including Klavdii Levedev, Mikhail Avilov and Fedor Sychkov who participated in regular exhibitions, primarily at the Academy of Arts, St. Petersburg. Solomko, however was more acknowledged in the international field than his contemporaries, he won a prize at the Chicago Columbian Exposition in 1893 and he worked as an artist for the firm of Carl Fabergé. Amongst his most prominent work for Fabergé is the central painting on a bridal fan presented to the Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna on 27υth July 1901 by her brother Emperor Nicholas II on the occasion of her marriage to Prince Peter of Oldenburg. The painting by Somoko shows the Imperial couple receiving gifts of bread and salt after the ancient custom. Below this is a painted view of the Oldenburg Palace, St. Petersburg. The interest in traditional rites, for example the acceptance of bread and salt by Grand Duchess Olga at her wedding was of great interest to Solomko and more renowned Russian artists working at the end of the nineteenth century. Konstantin Makovsky reproduced his idealised vision in The Kissing Rite and The Boyarina's Wedding. Like Solomko, many of his romanticised images have been popularly reproduced in cloisonné enamel works of art, for examples see: Sotheby's London, 1υst December 2004, lot 331, and Habsburg / Lopato, Fabergé: Imperial Jeweller, St. Petersburg 1993p. 331 and 332. The offered work by Solomko shows a finely dressed Boyar in the foreground catching the eye of a young girl. The figures are portrayed in a romantic manner in 18υth century dress. During a period of history which saw the traditional structure of Russian society change dramatically these works evoked the romance, colour, and extravagance of a lost and untouchable age.