Unique vase "Cosmos"

A Unique Vase by the Legendary V. A. Filatov

The "Cosmos" Vase (1956) was created by V. A. Filatov and presented to the First Space Hero, Y. A. Gagarin, during the awarding of the state honor to the USSR pilot-cosmonaut, in commemoration of the first human spaceflight on April 12, 1961.

This is the original, from the family collection of Y. A. Gagarin. Of historical and cultural value.

Only one authentic copy was made, and later (in 1963), another replica was produced for the Crystal Museum in Gus-Khrustalny (Identification Number V-30000/2989, State Vladimir-Suzdal Museum-Reserve).

VLADIMIR ALEKSANDROVICH FILATOV – member of the Union of Artists of the USSR (1963), Honored Artist of the RSFSR, Laureate of the I. E. Repin State Prize.

V. A. Filatov worked on items using the diamond-cut technique. The figurative basis of the decoration of his works is an enlarged diamond facet with a strictly rhythmic pattern, organically fused with large, solemn forms. Filatov developed a trend in his works toward creating exquisite engraved crystal items made in single copies: the "Sea" (1960) and "Lace" (1967) dishes; the "Cypress" (1961), "February" (1971), "Olympia," and "Summer" vases; the "Golden Placers" (1967) vase and dish; the "Spring" (1967) and "Russia" (1969) bowls; and the decorative sets "May Lace" (1971), "Requiem," and others.

Vladimir Aleksandrovich also created a number of works using the free-blown glass technique: the decorative set "We Are from the Meshchera Region" (1968), the "Southern" vase, and others. Since 1966, V. A. Filatov has participated in many national and international art and industrial art exhibitions, including EXPO-67 in Montreal and EXPO-70 in Osaka. He was awarded the Bronze Medal of the USSR Exhibition of Economic Achievements in 1961.

The "Cosmos" Vase is notable in many respects. Its shape has no analogy. It is even difficult to call it a vase. The artist deliberately makes it seemingly unstable and fragmentary. It appears before us like a shard of a vase. This in itself evokes a feeling of the unusual. And is human spaceflight an ordinary occurrence? However, the author does not stop there. He carefully thought out the form and made it expressive. Sharp rays diverging from the center symbolize an upward aspiration. And what a sharp impulse is expressed in the central ray, steeply rising upward! The complex color, golden-fiery in thin layers and honey-tea in dense ones, also conveys the feeling of motion, of a swift impulse.