
Daria Khristova nee Chernenko
Department Director
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Sold for £15,000 inc. premium
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Department Director
PROVENANCE:
Prince Nikolai Yusupov and Princess Tatiana Yusupov, née de Ribaupiere
Their daughter, Princess Zinaida Yusupov and her husband Count Felix Sumarokov-Elston
Nationalized by the Soviet State in 1925, and de-accessioned shortly after
Purchased by an American businessman at Torgsin in Moscow on August 18, 1931 for 93 rubles
Thence by descent in the family
Prince Nikolai Yusupov (1827-1891), an adviser at the Russian Embassy in Paris, commissioned the well-known silversmith Alex Gueyton to create an elaborate service decorated with Russian medieval ornaments and the insignia of Yusupov Princely family for his grand palace in St. Petersburg. The extensive service was later known as the 'Scandinavian service', a misnomer as the decorations mostly derived from the Russian medieval manuscripts and vernacular sources. Later it was probably moved to the Moscow house where Princess Zinaida Yusupov and her husband Count Felix Sumarokov-Elston were living. After the October Revolution the service and other family treasures were hidden there by the family. In 1925, Yusupov's treasuries were discovered by the Soviet authorities, and the service quickly was designated to be sold for foreign currency. Part of the extensive service was sold through Torgsin stores created to sell nationalized treasures to foreigners directly, and part of the service was sold by the Soviets at auctions in the West in the late 1920-early 1930s. This particular group was acquired by an American businessman during his trip to Moscow in 1931.