A RUSSIAN PORCELAIN FIGURE OF A PEASANT DRINKING FROM A KOVSH, KUZNETSOV PORCELAIN FACTORY, TVER, LATE 19TH CENTURY

A RUSSIAN PORCELAIN FIGURE OF A PEASANT DRINKING FROM A KOVSH, KUZNETSOV PORCELAIN FACTORY, TVER, LATE 19TH CENTURY realistically modeled peasant sitting on a trunk next to a barrel of water, holding a kovsh with both hands, dressed in a white peasant shirt with red trim and blue breeches and lapti, seated on an oval floor-like base; impressed M.S. Kuznetsov factory mark, numerals 1276 and 12, and inscribed Baron de Baye under base; overall height: 18 cm (7 1/8 in.) LOT NOTES The inscription likely refers to Baron Joseph de Baye (1853-1931) who was initially an amateur archaeologist from the Champagne region of France, but at the turn of the twentieth century, commissioned by the French government to collect ceramics in the Russian Empire. Upon his return, he acquired a considerable amount of Russian folk art pieces and gave public lectures on Russia's ethnographic treasures in Paris. The Baron and his daughters donated his extensive collection to many French museums including the Musee Cernuschi, Musee d'Histoire Naturelle, Musee Guimet, Musee du Louvre, Musee des Antiquites nationales de Saint-Germain-en-Laye and Musee de Sevres.