RUSSIAN FIGURINE 'PIONEER WITH A DRUM'

RARE PORCELAIN FIGURINE 'YOUNG PIONEER WITH DRUM', probably circa 1926, marked by the Lomonosov Porcelain Factory, Leningrad, after a Soviet model by Maria Strakhovskaya (1888–1962), depicts a young boy standing barefoot with his eyes to the sky, in a white shirt, red neckerchief, and blue shorts, playing a yellow drum suspended from a strap on his left shoulder, standing on a rocky base painted with green scrollwork, height 15.5 cm, the base impressed with a hammer, sickle, and gear, stamped with the Cyrillic initials 'IK' (Ivan Kuznetsov) of the modeler, and a red stamp 'Made in Russia U.S.S.R.' (minor restoration to the left leg)

REFERENCES: Maria Mikhailovna Strakhovskaya (1888–1962) studied at the Society for the Encouragement of Artists (1907–1914) and was a member of several artistic societies, including the Society of Russian Sculptors and Monolit. This figurine is part of a remarkable series of 'Pioneer' figurines commissioned by the Lomonosov Factory from Strakhovskaya in the mid-1920s. The series includes figurines such as 'Pioneer Walking with Drum', 'Pioneer with Bugles', 'Pioneer in "Always Ready" Pose with Drum at His Feet', 'Pioneer with Hammer', and 'Pioneer with Flag'. Sculptor Ivan Kuznetsov worked at the Imperial Porcelain Factory from 1910 and continued there after the 1917 Revolution. Figurines produced by the factory, especially in the early 1920s, were available to a limited number of people, as they were luxury items and produced in small quantities. A similar figurine is illustrated in the book by T.N. Nosovich and I.P. Popova "State Porcelain Factory, 1904–1944" (2005), p. 611. Another was exhibited at "Children of the Soviet State" at the State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, from September to November 2017, see catalogue (2017), p. 87, No. 102. See also the figurine featured in the current exhibition "Voice of Time. Soviet Porcelain: Art and Propaganda" at the State Hermitage since December 2017, inv. no. MF 6173, see catalogue (2017), p. 134, No. 56. Other porcelain figurines after models by Maria Strakhovskaya, including 'Young Blacksmith' and 'Young Robber', were sold at Sotheby's auction in New York on April 12, 2011, lot 172.