ANTIQUE. TWO-PART COMPOTIER VASE: WILD FLOWERS, blue opaque glass, painting, BAKHMETYEV, 1840s-1850s.

An antique two-part (composite) COMPOTIER VASE: WILD FLOWERS, carved heavy dark-blue opaque glass, hand-cut and polished, hand-painted with enamels and gold,
BAKHME'YEV, Russia, 1840s–1850s (listed in a catalog). Dimensions: height – 17 cm, stem height – 14.5 cm, dish height – 3.5 cm, dish diameter – 22 cm, base diameter – 10.5 cm, glass thickness – 0.5 cm. Exquisite hand-painting. The letter "K" is engraved on the base’s underside; it is possible that the vase’s painting was based on designs by Fyodor Krasovsky (painter, "flower master" at the Imperial Glass Factory). Condition as shown in photos (microchip on the lower part of the base). Delivery to another region – via Russian Post (or courier service – by agreement). FOR REFERENCE: Fyodor Ivanovich Krasovsky (1820–1863) – son of a serf master porcelain painter at the Popov Porcelain Factory. The factory’s output was highly diverse, producing both expensive custom-ordered dinner services and simple tableware for people of middle and low income. In addition to various tableware, there were sculptures, vases, and various porcelain household items. In 1835, Fyodor became an apprentice at the St. Petersburg Porcelain Factory of the Kornilov brothers, and in 1839, a painter at the Imperial Porcelain Factory. The factory administration noted the master: "His work was distinguished by particular artistic skill, remaining to this day excellent among all other painters of this kind." In 1861, the Academy of Arts "awarded F.I. Krasovsky the title of Free Artist of Flower and Fruit Painting (on porcelain) for 'Bouquet of Spring Flowers,' painted on canvas in oils." IPF artists were sometimes recruited to work at the Imperial Glass Factory. Fyodor Ivanovich was an enterprising man (shortly after starting work at the IPF, he was already able to purchase a house in St. Petersburg). It is possible that, seeking to earn more, he also created designs for Bakhmetyev (Bakhmetyev, fulfilling court orders, had connections at the Imperial Glass Factory).

The Nikolsko-Bakhmetyevsky Crystal Factory (Nikolo-Bakhmetyevsky (or Bakhmetyevsky) Crystal Factory) was founded in 1764 with the highest permission of Empress Catherine II by retired military officer Alexei Ivanovich Bakhmetyev on his own estate, in the village of Nikolo-Pestrovka, Penza Governorate. From its founding until 1884, the factory was managed by three generations of the Bakhmetyev family, after whom the factory was named Bakhmetyevsky. The Bakhmetyevs were related to the best families of Russia: the Trubetskoys, Gorchakovs, Volkonskys, Obolenskys, and Tolstoys. The factory became Russia’s first private enterprise in its industry, one of the leading Russian crystal and glass manufacturers. Starting in 1795, the factory fulfilled orders for the highest nobility and the Church. Each such order was executed in a unique style. Products, including those made of colored glass and crystal, were decorated with painting, enamel, paints, gold and silver, matte engraving, and diamond cutting. Ancient techniques were used – filigree (Venetian thread), imitation of chased gold and precious stones.

As early as 1789, N.A. Bakhmetyev, son of the factory’s founder, established a Museum of Glass and Crystal to study the experience of the world’s best glass and crystal manufacturers, where he began collecting the finest examples of his factory’s production and the best works of European glass art, often used by factory masters as models. In 1829, at the first All-Russian Exhibition of Manufactured Goods, the factory was awarded a Grand Gold Medal for its exhibited items. From 1836 to 1861, the family enterprise achieved its highest prosperity. The factory received its highest award – the right to bear the State Coat of Arms on its products – in 1836, and this award was subsequently confirmed at exhibitions in Moscow in 1839, 1861, and 1865, and in Nizhny Novgorod in 1896. In 1884, the factory passed by inheritance to the Bakhmetyevs’ relative, Prince Alexander Dmitrievich Obolensky. In 1900, at the World’s Fair in Paris, products of the Nikolsko-Bakhmetyevsky Factory of Prince A.D. Obolensky were awarded the Grand Gold Medal, and the masters received personal bronze medals.