Lomonosov Porcelain
Figures from USSR
Click on the pictures to see the collection.
More USSR animal figures for sale
In 1744, a soon-to-be quite influential
porcelain factory was founded on the outskirts of St. Petersburg. The
local raw material, which included clay from Gzhel and quartz and
alabster from Olonets, had been recently tamed by a scientist - Dimitri
Vinogradoff - who had also introduced the concept of master
craftsmanship. The idea was that decorators and painters of fine
porcelain would be schooled at the Academy of Fine Arts. The factory
soon began to supply the needs of the Imperial Court. It was a fairly
small-scale operation, with product costing many times over what the
private factories that flourished nearby produced. For a while the
partnership between masters from the Academy of Arts and the factory
flourished, but after 1820 the links were abruptly severed. In the early
19th century, the Imperial Porcelain Factory was again built up and
began to make more complex porcelain pieces. In the early 20th century,
the factory was given over to the war effort. After the Communist
revolution, propaganda porcelain was given special priority and status. Much of this
limited output today commands great interest, respect and high
values. Recently prices have been going through the roof, commanding 2-3 (sometimes 10) times over auction estimates.
In 1925, on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the Academy of
Sciences of Russia, the factory was named after Mikhail Vasilevich Lomonosov (1711-1765), a
Russian scholar, historian and scientist (whose wide-ranging interests and pursuits were analogous
to those of the American statesman, Benjamin Franklin). During the Soviet
era, the Lomonosov factory was a bright star in the otherwise dull firmament of cultural and plastic arts.
Communism and the Soviet era came to a crashing end in 1991, and with it the
careful free-hand painting on porcelain figures
at the Lomonosov Factory also came to an end. This is not to say that
free-hand painting was discontinued, but its "hot-housed",
highly-evolved nature did. The attention to minute detail, the delicate
feathering and realistic fur, the exquisite eyes and mouths - all
changed. This delicate nature of painting had been created and nurtured
by the lack of a need to meet a bottom line by the factory managers, and
by the very nature of artists who worked in the factory, who enjoyed
their specialized work, and who refined and showed off their talent,
particularly to peer artists.
We invite you to browse our wonderful
Lomonosov pieces from the last half of the 20th century. All figures
guaranteed as stated and are marked "Made in the USSR" and the LFZ logo. Pictures of the the
figures are of the actual items we sell.
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