The majolica fireplace ‘The Meeting of Volga Svyatoslavovich and Mikula Selyaninovich’ was made in 1898 in the Abramtsevo pottery workshop of the patron Savva Mamontov according to the project of Mikhail Vrubel. The workshop was built by Mamontov to revive the Russian majolica, and Mikhail Vrubel and Pyotr Vaulin played the main role in this matter. The exposition also includes a series of majolica sculptures by Vrubel based on the operas ‘Sadko’ and ‘Snow Maiden’. Vrubel was awarded the Gold Medal of the 1900 Paris Exhibition for a series of ceramic works.
The fireplace ‘Meeting of Volga Svyatoslavovich with Mikula Selyaninovich’ was made in several copies according to the artist’s sketch — there are slight differences in color and some details of the drawing and decor between them. Presumably, about seven such fireplaces were made. The plot of the composition is based on a Russian epic about the legendary plowman-hero Mikula Selyaninovich and the warrior-prince Volga Svyatoslavovich. Prince Volga went for a tribute to the cities entrusted to him by Prince Vladimir and in an open field he saw the plowman Mikula, whose heroic strength amazed him. The ceramic panel depicts the moment of dialogue between two heroes, when the prince asks the plowman to help him protect the native land from enemy raids.
The peculiarity of this fireplace design is that it was created as an exhibition model and never fulfilled its direct functions. According to experts, the presented sample is the closest to the original one shown in Paris, and is probably the author’s copy, as evidenced by the inscription revealed during the restoration work in the lower left corner of the majolica panel: ‘Made at S.I. Mamontov’s according to sketch by Vrubel’. The fireplace entered the Crafts Museum in 1910 directly from the Abramtsevo pottery workshop as part of a whole collection of this firm’s products. The ceramic mantelpiece consists of more than 150 details, and no fragment is repeated. Some of them weigh up to four kilograms.
On the right side of the fireplace are the sculptures ‘Tsar Berendey’ and ‘Lel’. These images are included in the series (‘suite’) of majolica sculptures created by Vrubel on the theme of the fairy-tale opera ‘The Snow Maiden’ by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.
The fireplace ‘Meeting of Volga Svyatoslavovich with Mikula Selyaninovich’ was made in several copies according to the artist’s sketch — there are slight differences in color and some details of the drawing and decor between them. Presumably, about seven such fireplaces were made. The plot of the composition is based on a Russian epic about the legendary plowman-hero Mikula Selyaninovich and the warrior-prince Volga Svyatoslavovich. Prince Volga went for a tribute to the cities entrusted to him by Prince Vladimir and in an open field he saw the plowman Mikula, whose heroic strength amazed him. The ceramic panel depicts the moment of dialogue between two heroes, when the prince asks the plowman to help him protect the native land from enemy raids.
The peculiarity of this fireplace design is that it was created as an exhibition model and never fulfilled its direct functions. According to experts, the presented sample is the closest to the original one shown in Paris, and is probably the author’s copy, as evidenced by the inscription revealed during the restoration work in the lower left corner of the majolica panel: ‘Made at S.I. Mamontov’s according to sketch by Vrubel’. The fireplace entered the Crafts Museum in 1910 directly from the Abramtsevo pottery workshop as part of a whole collection of this firm’s products. The ceramic mantelpiece consists of more than 150 details, and no fragment is repeated. Some of them weigh up to four kilograms.
On the right side of the fireplace are the sculptures ‘Tsar Berendey’ and ‘Lel’. These images are included in the series (‘suite’) of majolica sculptures created by Vrubel on the theme of the fairy-tale opera ‘The Snow Maiden’ by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.
