ANTIQUE RUSSIAN PORCELAIN MATCH HOLDER

ANTIQUE RUSSIAN PORCELAIN MATCH HOLDER
RARE RUSSIAN ANTIQUE SOVIET PORCELAIN MATCH HOLDER, 1930s
An antique match strike and holder with a porcelain composition "A Tub, Boots and a Cat", made by the Dmitrov Porcelain Factory in Verbilki (formerly the Gardner Factory) after the model of the mid-19th century.
A charming composition, naturalistically executed, and neatly painted. No chips or cracks. At the bottom, red overglaze mark of the Dmitrov Porcelain Factory.
CONDITION: Magnificent condition. Hand painted. The item is described to the best of our knowledge. Please refer to pictures and email with any questions.
SIZE: H. 2 3/4 in (7 cm), L. 5 in (12.7 cm).
ESTIMATE PRICE: $1,500 - $2,000.
You have a GREAT CHANCE to purchase a unique item for your collection - over the years it will only INCREASE in price.
HISTORY of SALES: Few years ago Russian porcelain match holder was sold on Live Auctioneer for $2,200, $6,000 and $6,500 - please see the screenshots.
SHIPPING: Let us Handle Your Shipping. For your convenience we will ship your item for a reasonable price - shipping costs will be included in the invoice. Combined shipping is available - next item will be ONE DOLLAR for shipping. Selling on consignment.
PLEASE NOTE: If you want to buy this item, please make a bid now. Any offer is welcome. Some lots, that do Not Have any Bids on them, WILL be CLOSED before the auction is started and will not be included in it. Now, there are 1000+ items for preview, but there will be only 400 items in the Live Auction.
NEW: Returning customers will have 50% DISCOUNT on shipping.

HISTORY: Francis Gardner, an English timber merchant, settled in Russia in 1746 and, after twenty years in the timber trade, founded, on March 7, 1766, Russia’s first privately owned porcelain factory near the village of Verbilki, the Dmitrov uezd, Moscow gubernia. Archives and surviving porcelain samples give a full case-history of the earliest Russian porcelain undertaking. The fulfillment by the factory in 1780-1785 of the orders of the tsar’s court for large dinner-sets, signified the full mastery of the techniques of porcelain production, which brought it fame and recognition among the collectors and lovers of porcelain pottery. So much so, that the trademark “G”, the initial letter of the name “Gardner”, boldly made an appearance on the porcelain pieces produced in the village of Verbilki. In the early nineteenth century, the Gardner factory was shifted to the production of sculptures in the national Russian style, for which it gained a wide renown and which continued into the late nineteenth century. Artistically superb, the nineteenth-century Verbilki porcelain counts among the pick of decorative applied arts. The take-over of the factory in 1892 by Matvei Kuznetsov, a monopoly porcelain manufacturer in Russia, was another milestone since Kuznetsov, although he continued with Gardner’s trademark, was keen on mass-producing cheap porcelain to conquer the home and foreign porcelain markets and compete successfully with his tenacious rivals. Under Kuznetsov the Verbilki produce gained in the technical standard but lost its artistic qualities, with decor confined, in the main, to mechanic painting techniques. When, after the 1917 October Revolution, the factory was nationalized, and given the name of the Dmitrov Porcelain Plant, it kept for a while in the mainstream of the pre-revolutionary forms and its decor was constricted to floral motifs. In 1938 an art laboratory was organized at the plant to enhance the artistic worth of the produce, and sculpture production was launched, in which the contribution of Sergei Orlov was fairly significant. It continued undisturbed until the Great Patriotic War when the production of art pieces came to halt.