Hillwood Museum's Russian silver collection is the largest and most
comprehensive outside Russia and curator emerita Anne Odom provides a
cultural, political and historical context in which to view this
fascinating collection. Russian Silver in America surveys Russian
silver production, its changing forms, styles, imagery and techniques
over more than 250 years.
Drawing on the collections of both the Hillwood and other US museums,
the book features colour plates of over 160 pieces: presentation gifts,
commemorative and liturgical objects and pieces made for the court and
growing merchant class, including drinking vessels, tea and coffee
services, and chalices used by the former imperial family.
Anne Odom charts the history of Russian silver through the baroque
styles of the reigns of Peter and Elizabeth, the move to Rococo and
Neoclassicism under Catherine and Paul, revivalist styles under
Alexander I and Nicholas I, 19th-century styles up to Fabergé, modernist
production, and the fate of Russian silver after the Revolutions.
Running throughout is the fascinating story of how and why so much
Russian silver found its way into American collections--much of it sold
by the Soviet government in the 1920s and 30s as it was considered to be
of no artistic value. These sales mean that much of the extant Russian
silver produced after 1835 is now housed in America.
