Masterpieces of the Peterhof Cutting Factory in the Fersman Mineralogical Museum of the Russian Academy of Sciences M.B

94 New Data on Minerals. 2011. Vol. 46 MASTERPIECES OF THE PETERHOF CUTTING FACTORY IN THE FERSMAN MINERALOGICAL MUSEUM OF THE RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES M.B. Chistyakova Fersman Mineralogical Museum, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, [email protected] A brief history of the Peterhof Cutting Factory is documented, the art pieces mastered at the factory and kept in the Fersman Mineralogical Museum are described. 30 figures, 8 references. Key words: Fersman Mineralogical Museum, stone cutting masterpieces, the Peterhof Cutting Factory. Establishment of a new Russian capital supervised these works. He was also entrust- city at the beginning of the 18th century stim- ed to cut precious gems and diamonds and ulated a great interest in mining and cutting was quite successful in this, even inventing of construction stones and, later, of gems nec- “quite a pleasing machine” for cutting of dia- essary for decoration of Imperial palaces. monds (Mavrodina, 2007, p.28). Long time Old standards and skills used in stone after that, Bottom improved the factory architecture of tower-chambers and castles equipment, including necessary machinery made of soft stone became a thing of the past. and instruments for fine haberdashery works. New cities of European standard demanded In the middle 1750s, during the reign of huge quantity of various materials, including Elizaveta Petrovna, 87 people were employed hard stone and cutting facilities at the local at the factory, including craftsmen of agate, factories. The country had neither this nor diamond, gold and haberdashery. They suc- that. cessfully cut and framed gemstones for deco- In 1719, Tsar Peter the Great set up a spe- ration of quite diverse items ranging from cial department, Berg-Kollegium, for explo- jewelry masterpieces to parade gears for the ration and mining of deposits in the country. horses. Small items like snuffboxes, small Due to its work, the country started develop- glasses, plates, bowls and other masterpieces ment of its metal, building stone and, later, started to appear (Mavrodina, 2007). During decorative stone deposits. Elizaveta Petrovna’s reign, the factory began Cutting of stone was difficult. At the to manufacture initially quite imperfect pic- beginning, the local craftsmen could only tures, made using the technique of Florentine roughly cut the stone, whereas the detailed mosaics (Ibid, p.28). work was entrusted to invited foreign crafts- In 1751, to supply these and other stone- men. The scale of work was miserable com- cut works with necessary material, a group of paring to tremendous demand, and the stone cutters and polishers headed by Emperor started reforming this industry. Unterschichtmeister Selezhev was sent to In 1721, following the Emperor’s decree, a Siberia (to the Urals). Raw materials mined by “windmill and barn” were built. Soft stones, this expedition were used for manufacturing mainly marble and alabaster, were sawed and of large items like table tops, chimneys, and polished there. Soon, a windmill was replaced architectural details. Rough cutting of them by a watermill that was also used for glass pol- was fulfilled in Yekaterinburg, and in winter ishing, which was in demand at that time. the semi-finished articles were delivered to In 1731, the factory was almost burnt Peterhof by sledges where they were finished down in a fire, and, three years later, the and decorated. Empress Anna Ioanovna published a decree In 1763, in the beginning of the reign of for construction of a new one. Construction Catherine the Great, Betskiy, the President of was headed by Isaac Bruckner from Basel, a the Academy of Sciences, became a manager former craftsman of mathematical instru- of the factory. Under his management, assort- ments in the Imperial Academy of Sciences. ment of the masterpieces was sufficiently At the factory, he started cutting hard stones widened. In addition to small things, tables, for building, and, since the late 1740s, he set chimneys, and vases, church utensils and up an artistic stone workshop. Josef Bottom iconostases were manufactured. The largest Masterpieces of the Peterhof Cutting Factory in the Fersman Mineralogical Museum of the Russian Academy of Sciences 95 and perfectly cut masterpieces were manu- and from mines along the River Ambarka and factured under personal supervision of districts of Yuzhakovo, Alabashka, and Sizi - Bottom. In his time, a carved relief was intro- kovo. Rock crystals and “tumpases” also sup- duced. Catherine the Great was a great lover plemented a list of gems which came to and judge of stone-cutting craft, and she Peterhof. wrote with pride to her foreign correspon- In the second half of the 18th century, in dents that Russian craftsmen were working addition to the Urals’ deposits, beryl and better than Italian ones (Mavrodnia, 2007, topaz were mined to the east of Lake Baikal p. 30). (since the 1770s). In the Baikal area, lazurite As the factory still needed plenty of vari- was found on the Rivers Slyudyanka (in 1775) ous stone materials, Catherine the Great pub- and Malaya Bystraya (in 1785). And finally, in lished in 1765 a Decree about setting up a the very end of the century (1798), a magnifi- special department in Yekaterinburg called cent rhodonite deposit was discovered near an “Expedition for Exploration of Different the Maloye Sedel’nikovo Village in the Urals. Sorts of Gems”. From then on, intensive exploration and min- By the middle of the 18th century, many ing works for gems in Russia continued non- gems had already been found and mined in stop until the 20th century. Russia. The Urals were the main place for Since the factory could not satisfy enor- their exploration and mining. Since the times mous appetites of the Imperial Court, a new of Alexei Mikhailovich (in 1668), first gem- stone building was promptly built by Felton stones, such as rock crystal, amethyst, topaz, in 1780. By the end of the reign of Katherine tourmaline and beryl, were discovered in the the Great, the factory was able to manufac- River Neiva area in the Urals. But these were ture plenty of large-scale, voluminous works still isolated finds. Exploration efforts and and individual mosaic masterpieces from mining of raw materials in the first half of the hard stone, such as table tops and the like. 18th century were also insufficient to satisfy Besides, craftsmen of the factory participated the demands, although since the times of in the laying out of stone and smalto mosaic Elizaveta Petrovna, rock crystals and “tum - floors, as well as decorative panels in the pases” were found in the Urals. Since 1723, in Chinese Palace of Oranienbaum. Having the remote area to the east of Baikal, in the been started during the Empress Elizaveta Sherl Mountain and in Adun-Chilon, topaz, time, cutting of gems, of which most popular aquamarine and heliodor were discovered. In were topaz and aquamarine, was widened suf- the first half of the 18th century, the Urals’ ficiently. first marble and jasper deposits were also Since 1800 until 1811, Earl Stroganov was found (jasper was first mentioned in 1742). in charge of the factory. Prior to this, he was a But all these discoveries were still insuffi- head of the Yekaterinburg Factory. In his cient. To improve the situation, according to time, mechanical devices were renewed, a enactment of Katherine the Great, craftsmen sluice was repaired, and many other problems and apprentices of Peterhof Factory accom- were solved. Josef Bottom approved a staff of panied by a group of soldiers had been dis- 86 employees and divided them according to patched to the Urals from “the Expedition”. qualification into craftsmen and apprentices, The expedition was headed by Major General who fulfilled tasks of variable difficulty. Clear Danneberg. The two mosaic specialists from forms of accountability have been intro- Florence, the brothers Jean-Baptist and duced. Valery Tortora, participated in it. In addition to the manufacturing of mas- Two years later, Danneberg presented to terpieces for individual purposes and for dec- the Petersburg Court specimens from more oration of the interiors, the factory cut build- than 300 gem deposits of the Urals and a map ing stone and blocks of hard rock for the with their location. Due to this expedition, Kazan Palace and Bourse (Stock Exchange) in marble, jasper and such a famous gem “for St.-Petersburg. haberdashery works” like amethyst appeared During this time, the factory manufac- in Peterhof. Amethyst was from the Tal’yan tured plenty of large objects. To diversify the Deposit (the name originated from “ital’ - masterpieces, Bottom requested from Stro - yanets” – an Italian man, a link to the ganov to obtain the drafts of new items from Tortora brothers, who participated in the the Academy of Arts. Since that time, first exploration and mining of local amethyst) names of artists-architects, who designed the 96 New Data on Minerals. 2011. Vol. 46 masterpieces, were first mentioned, including with preservation or even completion of stone famous Giacomo Quarenghi (1744–1817) and natural pattern. Malachite was used for large Andrei Voronikhin (1759–1814). Voro nikhin vases, pediments, table tops, consoles, stan- introduced a new, for the factory, technique dard lamps and the like. Many of them were of combining the gems and voluminous metal decorated by gold-plated bronze. After clo- plastic in one composition (Mavrodina , 2007, sure of the bronze workshop at the factory, p. 32–33). the “English Shop of Nicholls & Plinke” Since the beginning of the 19th century, became a supplier of bronze to the enterprise. Russian gems and masterpieces gained first Malachite remained popular for several recognition in the West. The Factory was now decades. The factory manufactured plenty of receiving purchase orders from abroad. In malachite works for the Winter Palace which spite of that, the enterprise was in a very lam- was severely damaged during the 1837 fire.

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