Catherine the Great: Treasures of Imperial Russia from the State Hermitage Museum, Leningrad

by Isabella Forbes, William Underhill (Editor)

Catherine the Great started her collection in 1764 to decorate the Winter Palace. The treasures are now housed in The Hermitage museum in Leningrad. This book presents a selection of these treasures, including jewellery, such as a gold, diamond and sapphire snuff box, diamond watches, chalices, table services, armour, tapestries, dresses and portraits of her and her courtiers. The publication of this book is designed to coincide with an exhibition of the treasures in Memphis, Tennessee, in April 1991.

Genres: Russia, Art

232 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 1993

Reviews

[Laura Edwards]

I love looking at photographs of objects I once saw while on a trip to Russia nearly fourteen years ago. And aside from the pictures, there is a nice overview of Catherine the Great and her reign at the beginning of the book. The only disappointment. I was hoping to find a picture of the peacock clock, although since the objects d'art in the book are from an exhibition in the U.S. it's absence is hardly surprising. Too large and unwieldy to truck around the world. And I do have a photograph of my own (though hardly as professionally done as the photos in the book). But, alas, no mention of the clock at the end of the book during an overview of art in Russia. The reason I really wanted to find a reference is because I can't remember the particulars of the story, if the gift was from Catherine or for Catherine. And which lover was involved, Orlov or Potemkin. Aargh. Not as much variety as one can find in other books concerning the same subject, but as stated earlier, certain objects would be impossible to include in an exhibition of this kind. A very nice book to add to my collection.