December 2, 2014 in the East Wing of the General headquarter opened an exhibition "The Deathly of East and West to Imperial Court for 300 years."
For visitors the exhibition will be open from 02.12.2014 to 08.03.2015.
On it presented about 400 works of fine and decorative arts, weapons, books and numismatic values, presented to Russian rulers beginning with Peter I and ending with Nicholas II.
The Deathly were presented during diplomatic visits and meetings, at the successful conduct of hostilities and the establishment of peace, at the coronation, which took place especially solemnly. There was a custom of giving to the wedding dinner sets of silver or porcelain. Sometimes the offerings were private, they were passed during travel. Often the imperial court exchanged gifts for family and calendar holidays, such as Christmas or Easter. Quite often things contained in them additional semantic subtext. Interesting examples of the language of diplomacy of the XVIII century were donative snuffboxes, which are particularly valued, often on a par with the Order. Especially honored were those who were decorated with a monogram or a portrait of emperor. Its popularity at the Russian court snuffbox owes much to the commitment of Peter I to the European manner of behavior.
Much attention is paid to accounting and storage of deathly. It was part of the functions of cameral department of the Ministry of the Imperial Court, which manages the room of the imperial regalia and crown of diamonds in the Winter Palace, pantry with precious things, stones and wardrobe of the highest personages, as well as a pantry of stone products supplied by Yekaterinburg and Kolyvan factories. Among the deathly kept in the Hermitage to Russian imperial court, became the latest in a series of four tapestries "Seasons", which French President Raymond Poincaré presented the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, during his visit to St. Petersburg 20 – 23 July, 1914. Female characters embodying seasons, inspired by graphic figures Jules Cheret , on cardboard which they were created.
Unfortunately, not all deathly have reached our time. Thus, in 1922 from the Hermitage collection was confiscated for sale gold cup, decorated with diamonds, presented to Nicholas I by the Serbian Prince Milos Obrenovic. At the same time have gone gold snuffbox with 60 diamonds from 4 to 1.2 carats, presented by Mahmoud II to Nicholas I in honor of the conclusion of Adrianople, and gold star decorated with tafelshteynom (precious stone of planar face) and 8 diamonds. On exhibition are exhibits, most typical of the art of countries – givers, the artistic merits of which are not inferior to their historical value. By its gifts foreign countries showed, on the one hand, a deep respect for Russia, on the other – an interest in the development of relations with it. They all retain traces of historical events and are materialized evidences of Russian history.
The Hermitage collection includes the deathly of western and eastern states, relating to the period, when the state capital was moved to St. Petersburg. Many of these works were exhibited several times at various exhibitions in the museum and abroad. For the first time presented together, they are valuable evidence of the development of relations between Russia and the West and the East from the XVIII to the early XX century. The ancient custom of presentation of gifts perceived as the norm of good neighborly relations between the countries in our time. And silent witnesses of "fragile diplomacy" quite clearly characterize the importance of this kind of communication.
Curator of the exhibition – Tamara Rappe, Head of the Department of Western European Applied Art of the State Hermitage Museum.
