RUSSIAN FIGURINE 'PIONEER WITH A TAMBOURINE'

RARE PORCELAIN FIGURINE 'PIONEER WITH DRUM', circa 1926, bearing the mark of the Lomonosov Porcelain Factory, Leningrad, after the Soviet model by Maria Strakhovskaya (1888-1962), depicting a young boy standing barefoot with eyes turned skyward, in a white shirt, red pioneer scarf, and blue shorts, playing a yellow drum suspended from a strap over his left shoulder, standing on a rocky base decorated with green foliage monograms, height 15.5 cm, on a base impressed with a hammer, sickle, and gear, stamped with the modeler's Cyrillic initials 'IK' (Ivan Kuznetsov) and a red seal '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 artistic societies, including the Society of Russian Sculptors and Monolith. This figurine is part of a remarkable series of 'Pioneer' figurines commissioned by the Lomonosov Factory from Strakhovskaya in the mid-1920s. This series includes figurines 'Pioneer Walking with Drum', 'Pioneer with Fanfares', 'Pioneer in "Always Ready" Pose with Drum at 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 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 featured in the exhibition "Children of the Soviet State" at the State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, from September to November 2017, see catalog (2017), p. 87, no. 102. See also a figurine presented in the current exhibition "Voice of the Time. Soviet Porcelain: Art and Propaganda" at the State Hermitage Museum from December 2017, inventory no. MF 6173, see catalog (2017), p. 134, no. 56. Other porcelain figurines after models by Maria Strakhovskaya, including 'Young Blacksmith' and 'Young Robber', were sold at Sotheby's New York auction on April 12, 2011, lot 172.