

Pair of vases, ca. 1795–1800
Nikolai Stepanovich Vereshchagin (Russian, documented ca. 1795–1813)
Russian; Archangielsk
Walrus and elephant ivory
Nikolai Stepanovich Vereshchagin (Russian, documented ca. 1795–1813)
Russian; Archangielsk
Walrus and elephant ivory
H. 8 5/8 in. (21.9 cm), Base 3 x 3 in. (7.6 x 7.6 cm)
Purchase, Friends of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts Gifts, 1998 (1998.13.1,.2)
The indigenous art of Russian bone carving is inseparably linked with the whaling port of Archangielsk. Similar vases were created by Vereshchagin, the most recognized bone carver in late eighteenth-century Russia, for the imperial court in Saint Petersburg and were selected as ambassadorial gifts to promote Russian decorative arts abroad.







