IMPERIAL TEA-DRINKING

Over the years, the popularity and love of products from such refined material as porcelain have not faded away. True connoisseurs and admirers of porcelain assemble entire collections, realizing that over the years such items not only add to their value but also become a real family heirloom. And not only that!

The New Year is looming large. Very soon all of us will face the question: what to give our friends and relatives as a gift? The best option is to present porcelain. Especially since it is very fashionable to present souvenirs made of porcelain these days. Elegant porcelain items will please their future owner with the beauty of lines, splendor of patterns, sophistication and charm.

Porcelain can be presented on occasion and without one. Any event or celebration would do. Such a gift would be ideal when you attend an anniversary, a wedding, a graduation party, etc. And if you decide to make such an original and valuable gift, the ideal option is porcelain of the St. Petersburg Imperial Porcelain Factory.

History 

What is porcelain of the St Petersburg Imperial Porcelain Factory? It is not only a long history, elegance and beauty. It is a high art in the embodiment of the best masters of porcelain painting. Imperial porcelain is a unique phenomenon in Russian culture. The bright natural expressiveness of porcelain, fine tradition of craftsmanship, an elegant and noble painting - these are the distinctive features of the Imperial Porcelain Factory. Founded in St. Petersburg by a decree of Peter the Great's daughter, Empress Elizabeth, in 1744, the factory was the first such enterprise in Russia and third in Europe.

It was here that the talented Russian scientist D. I. Vinogradov (1720-1758) discovered the secret of "white gold." For the first time in the history of ceramics, he provided a scientific description of porcelain production, which is close to the modern concept of ceramic chemistry. The porcelain created by Vinogradov was no inferior to Saxon in terms of quality and was comparable to Chinese in terms of its composition.

In 1779, French expert Jean-Dominique Rochet (in Russia he was named Yakov Ivanovich Rashet) was invited to the position of chief model designer. Having worked at the factory for a quarter of a century, Y. I. Rashet made a great contribution to the development of artistic porcelain production. He became famous for a series of figures called "The peoples of the Russian State" (1780) which has a great historical, ethnographic and artistic value. Rashet's models also paved the way for "An Arabesque set" (1784) and other examples of Russian porcelain industry (particularly the 27-cm bust of Catherine II).

Initially the plant had the status of the Imperial Porcelain Manufactory and was located 10 versts from St. Petersburg. Currently, it is situated in the city. In 1832, Valerian Yemelyanovich Galyamin (1794-1855) was appointed its director. Having previously managed a topographical school, he somehow managed to present the Empress with two albums of his watercolors. "A great painter," this is how he was described at the court. This may not have played a role in the selection of his candidacy for the post of director of the plant, but his taste for the beautiful definitely had an impact on company products. It was under Galyamin's management that such master artists as A. Voronikhin and S. Pimenov started to work for the factory. A hospital, a pharmacy and a hospice were built. A bronze institution and a pottery workshop were also set up. A national school of porcelain artists and a school for the employee children were opened as well. On the 100th anniversary of production, a museum was established demonstrating sample products. In short, in 16 years of fruitful work Galyamin went down in history as the best director of the plant.

At the end of the 19th century, Emperor Alexander III ordered that all the orders of the imperial family be performed at the plant in two copies - one was to remain in the museum. The tradition of regularly enriching the factory museum was maintained in the 20th century, including the Soviet era. The museum's collection has been evacuated twice, the first time in the autumn of 1917 when it was taken to Petrozavodsk (until 1918), and the second time in 1941, when the exhibits were taken to Irbit (Urals). In the 1920s, the factory employed such famous suprematism artists as Kazimir Malevich, Ilya Chashnik and Nikolai Suetin.

The factory also employed outstanding scientist Nikolay Kachalov (20 June 1883, St. Petersburg - 19 June 1961, Leningrad), who was a chemical engineer and specialist in the field of optical glass, one of the first developers of the glass melting technology and founder of the theory of cold processing (grinding and polishing), organizer of science, industry and the art of glassmaking, winner of the Stalin Prize of the second degree (1947) and a corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1933). For more than 60 years, the plant employed a wizard of the traditional style Aleksey Vorobyevskiy. Since 2002, the plant has been owned by the head of "Uralsib" Nikolay Tsvetkov. In 2005, by the decision of shareholders, the plant was renamed into the Imperial Porcelain Factory.

"Cobalt mesh" 

Among the many decors and various porcelain patterns one of the most famous and recognizable is the "cobalt mesh." This painting, which first decorated porcelain in 1945, has already become a classical component of decorative art, the hallmark of the Lomonosov Porcelain Factory (the Imperial Porcelain Factory). The famous pattern was invented by artist Anna Yatskevich. However, at first it was not called cobalt but gold. Sets with this pattern started being produced shortly after the war in 1945. A year later Yatskevich expanded on her pattern and created the very famous cobalt mesh. She first painted the "Tulip" tea set by Serafima Yakovleva. In 1958, the "Cobalt mesh", a simple and elegant pattern, enchanted the world. This year's world fair held in Brussels saw the Lomonosov Porcelain Factory demonstrate its best products, including a few decorated with this painting. The set with the "Cobalt mesh" was not specifically prepared for the show, it was just part of the plant's assortment. Therefore, the gold medal for the pattern and the shape of the set was quite unexpected.

Anna Adamovna Yatskevich (1904-1952) was a graduate of Leningrad Industrial Arts College (1930). She worked at the factory as an artist painting on porcelain from 1932 to 1952. She became famous as the author of the famous "Cobalt mesh" came only after her death. Unfortunately, she didn't live to see the triumph of her painting in Brussels.

The history behind the set is associated with a pencil artist Anna Yatskevich used to apply her famous pattern into porcelain. In those days the idea of using the so-called cobalt pencil emerged at the factory. Of course, it was an ordinary pencil made by "Sacco and Vanzetti", but the core of it was made up of porcelain paint. The factory artists did not like the pencil, only Anna Yatskevich decided to try the novelty and painted the first "Cobalt mesh" set with it. Like it or not, but this copy of the set is currently stored at the Russian Museum. The "Cobalt mesh", according to experts, looked great on the "Tulip" set and imparted a solemn touch to it. This painting subsequently decorated other products at the factory: coffee and dinner sets, cups, vases and souvenirs. In fact, Anna Yatskevich made another contribution to the development of the porcelain factory - she is the author of the famous LPF logo (1936) which is seen on all products of the enterprise.

Imperial porcelain in Baku 

In Azerbaijan, a representative office of the Imperial Porcelain Factory, Imperial Baku, was opened in 2012 and is headed by Lyudmila Popova, who is in love with all that is beautiful, majestic and elegant. She has always been attracted to a bohemian life - exhibitions of visual and conceptual art. Porcelain, tapestries and interior design are at the forefront of her life preferences. In an interview with R + Lyudmila Popova stressed that Azerbaijanis deserve to be surrounded by beautiful things of artistic value and finished with love for the people. "All the products of the Imperial Porcelain Factory are made manually. The factory of this great work of art employs artists who complete every product with a great sense of dignity. And ordinary tea-drinking from imperial cups can become a special event with a nice atmosphere, great charm and style. Perhaps this is why the products of our factory enjoy great popularity among fans of porcelain", the representative of the IPF in Azerbaijan said.

The Imperial Porcelain Factory has many fans around the world. the fame of porcelain products is well deserved - they are of high quality, elegant and diverse. The products of the Imperial Porcelain Factory of St. Petersburg have always been popular with famous people - artists, actors, politicians, senior officials of the USSR and Russia. Leonid Brezhnev loved to present foreign visitors with porcelain bearing his own portrait. Gifts of porcelain were also loved by diplomat and politician Andrey Gromyko.

"Imperial porcelain is a symbol of elegance and luxury of your home, a reflection of your unique style. It decorates the interiors of houses of people whose taste is unquestionable. Among them are former first lady Laura Bush, Queen of Malaysia Tuanku Fauziah Abdul Rashid, Cherie Blair, famous French singer Mireille Mathieu, Greek actor Kostas Vustas. The earliest products of the plant are impossible to buy: the first sets issued for Peter's daughter Empress Catherine I and then for Empress Elizabeth II are now stored in the most famous museums in the world. Those were custom-made products. Therefore, collectors all over the world buy products of a later period, pre-revolutionary products and things of the Soviet period. Both are distinguished for nobility, perfection and a particularly sublime style. Both in tsarist Russia and in Soviet times the Leningrad porcelain was considered standard, consummate and perfect in form. It is distinguished by white color, featheriness of its elements and restraint in painting.

"The Imperial Porcelain Factory founded by the order of Peter the Great's daughter Empress Elizabeth long produced sets and nifty little items for diplomatic gifts to the imperial family. The products were considered a luxury and were not available. At present, the range of products is wide and varied - table, tea and coffee sets, tea and coffee couples, kettles, cutlery, figurines. Today, they are available to all, will decorate any holiday and satisfy the most demanding taste," says Lyudmila Popova.

In Azerbaijan, the representative office of the IPF operates under a partnership agreement whereby Imperial Baku provides products of the porcelain factory. As elsewhere in the world, the IPF accepts individual and corporate orders in Azerbaijan. It can make porcelain products in corporate style with an organization's logo on it. The factory's customers include large government and commercial organizations in Russia, such as the Office of Presidential Affairs of Russia, Sberbank of Russia, FC "Uralsib", "Lukoil", "Gazprom", "Transaero", "Coca-Cola", "Russian Railways" , FC "Zenit". A company logo can be applied by hand or using silk-screening tea and coffee couples of bone porcelain, fine dishes and plates, dinner sets and vases.

In addition, the IPF completes orders for exclusive porcelain works on an individual design. Monograms, family crests, historical replicas, designer porcelain, individual design can decorate items from the classical solid and thin-walled bone porcelain. The works can be decorated with glaze painting using colors of precious metals.

The Imperial Porcelain Factory recreates the forms of famous imperial vases, sculptures and crockery. Copies of the world's masterpieces are made using original technologies, which combine cutting-edge trends with age-old traditions of production.

The products of the Imperial Porcelain Factory are exquisite and unique. Portraits in the style of Petrine Baroque on a white porcelain surface, dish with a shimmering background are imbued with light and marked by the elegance of the St. Petersburg style in art. All these unique works create images of something beautiful, delicate and light in people's imagination.

IT`S INTERESTING

The Imperial Porcelain Factory was originally called the "Porcelain Manufactory". In 1765 it became the Imperial Porcelain Factory and in 1917 the State Porcelain Factory (SPF, the abbreviation on the stamp). In 1925, due to the 200th anniversary of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the plant was named after M. V. Lomonosov. The company received the official name - the Leningrad Porcelain Factory named after M. V. Lomonosov. A shorter version, the Lomonosov Porcelain Factory, was also in use until 2005.