268 - RUSSIA

RUSSIA Circular porcelain plate with polychrome decoration, featuring in the center a scene painted after the work by Valery Ivanovich Jacobi (1834–1902) titled “The Ice House ” (1878), signed and dated in Cyrillic in the lower right corner “V. Novitskaya. / 1893,” framed by two circular cartouches—one at the top depicting a peacock displaying its tail on a gold background, and one at the bottom inscribed in Cyrillic “The Ice House” in Gothic letters, set within a rich border of gilded interlacing motifs and Neo-Russian-style foliage friezes on blue and red backgrounds. In a circular wooden frame. Hand-numbered “No. 28” in black on the back. The design was painted by V. P. Novitskaya, a student in 1893 and later a professor at the School of the Imperial Society for the Encouragement of the Arts in Saint Petersburg from 1900 to 1907. Diameter: 50 cm. History This plate appears to have been created as part of the curriculum at the School of the Imperial Society for the Encouragement of the Arts in Saint Petersburg, where porcelain painting was taught in the late 19th century. Given its subject, based on a work by Jacobi, and the richness of its decoration, it appears to be more of a student or master’s project than a factory-produced piece. V. P. Novitskaya would later teach at this same school from 1900 to 1907.