PORCELAIN DOG

“A little museum inside the big one” is what projects the “Tiflis apartment” of the Toumanian Museum in Yerevan absolutely bearing with the Toumanian aesthetic taste.

The porcelain dog figurine standing on the piano in the living room is one of the exhibited items of the high-art collection which catches the eye of all visitors. The exhibited item is a matter to study the pages of the history of Russian porcelain.

In the first half of the 19th century, the Popov factory [1] was one of the leading manufacturers of Russian porcelain. The exhibited item – The porcelain dog – was “born” at the very same factory, a porcelain statue shaped into a "Bologna" breed dog, duplicated from the original piece created by the Meissen factory sculptor Kendler. The pledge of success for Popov's work are both the professional skills of his craftsmen and its own palette of colors developed in the in-house laboratory. The palette is distinguished by its colors, national character and elegance.

Popov factory was established in 1804 by a master of Gardner Porcelain Factory Karl Miller in Gorbunov village, Dimitrovski region, Moscow state. In 1811 Alexey Gavrilovich Popov, who was a trader of the first guild, an adviser of commercial cases and the mayor of Moscow, bought that factory and became the heir of the technical production achievements of Gardner porcelain factory. At the early stages of its activity, the Popov factory used "Grisaille" style decorative painting and other technical tricks of French, English and German porcelain illustrations, then in the first quarter of 19th century it acquired its own style.

According to contemporaries, due to the owner's great enthusiasm and big efforts to create a certain style, the factory stands next to "Gardner", "Kornilov Brothers", "Imperial Porcelain" and other leading factories.

From the very first day of its foundation, it was quite a large enterprise. The factory, which had about 250 employees, was distinguished by its splendid variety of products (samples): table and tea sets, vases, ink pots, inn dishes, porcelain figurines, sculptures of animals and other elegant accessories. The factory offered both plain and luxury goods and collections for different layers of society. Since 1831 the prices for the collections ranged from 1000-1500 rubles.

From the very first years of the activity, the factory had its own product label. Initially, we could find golden and red attachment reading "АП" on Popov’s products, then it was black and blue. Later it was “Н” and “Б”, rarely “Поповы”. There are also works that have no product label (like the figurine belonging to Toumanian).

Among Popov's products especially sculptures and statuettes were very popular, which continue to replenish the collections of museums as well as the collections of private collectors today.

Most of them had been illustrated before glazing or post glazing, and some works are made of unglazed, matte, white, double burned porcelain, called biscuit, which looks like marble. The "Bologna '' figurine is made of the very raw material (height - 20 cm, base - 12x21). There are brown spots on some places of the dog’s whitish, long-flowing, dense hair. He has expressive gray eyes and droopy ears. The nose is covered with black glaze, and the tail is shaped in the form of a furry tail.

It is registered in the main fund of the museum: TTGG 560 / WB 549.

Acquired from the poet's family,  Act N135, 26/07-68, price: 50 rubles.

P.S.

How the Bologna dog came to Russia from France.

In the 18th century, during his official visit to Russia, the French ambassador presented several dogs of this breed to Empress Catherine II. That is why it is called "French Bologna" in Russia, but the correct name of the breed is "Bolognese" - Bologna dog.

[1] Since 30’s of the 19th century, the Popov factory participated in various all-Russian industrial exhibitions in Moscow and St. Petersburg, with its porcelain products. It received various degrees of order (for example, St. Stanislav 4th degree, St. Anna 3th   degree, and  St. Vladimir 4th degree orders).

The active period of the factory ended after Popov's death. The factory was inherited to Popov’s children and then to the grandchildren. However, they were not able to properly organize the operation of the factory and sold it. The last owner was the merchant Fomichev.

In 1875 he liquidated the factory by selling the recipe of the colors to the Kornilov brothers, and the sculptures and tableware to the Ikonnikov factory.

The co-authors of the article

 Maria Adamyan    Leyla Nersisyan

Translated by  Anahit Sringyan