Organization: Francis Gardner Porcelain Factory
Origin: Russia, Moscow province, Dmitriev district, the village of Verbilki
Date: second half of the 18th century
Material: porcelain
Technique: overglaze monochrome coating, painting with gold
Dimensions: cup 4.3 × 9.7 × 7.5 cm; saucer 2.9 × 12.6 cm
Current Collection: The State Hermitage Museum
Inventory Number: ERF-434
Hermitage ID: 909290
Rudanovsky Connection: Entered the Hermitage in 1919 from the collection of A. K. Rudanovsky.
A Gardner porcelain cup and saucer of the second half of the eighteenth century, with a crimson coating and a gilded monogram.
Cup and Saucer with Crimson Coating and Gilded Monogram (ERF-434). The State Hermitage Museum.
The cup entered the Hermitage in 1919, handed over from the collection of A. K. Rudanovsky via the Office for the Preservation of Monuments of Art and Antiquity. It is not currently on permanent display.
It is a small cup and saucer — the cup 4.3 centimetres high — with a crimson ground, a white reserve and a gilded monogram.
The Object
The cup has a rounded body, a white handle and a white interior.
Its exterior is covered with a crimson coating, and a white oval reserve contains a gilded monogram. The rim and the base are banded with gold.
The saucer is white, with a large gold monogram in the centre, gold flower sprays at the sides and a gold rim.
The Crimson
The crimson is the cup’s colour.
It is a deep, slightly purple red, applied as a monochrome coating over the glaze. The colour is rich and even, and it covers the whole exterior.
Crimson grounds were a speciality of Russian porcelain in the eighteenth century, and they were used for the most luxurious services.
The Monogram
The monogram is the set’s personal mark.
On the saucer, it is painted in gold, under a small crown: an interlaced letter, probably an «M» or an «E», with flourishes. On the cup, it appears in the white reserve.
A monogram identifies the owner: it turns a service into a personal object, made for a specific family or person.
The Crown
A small crown floats above the monogram.
It is a coronet or a simple crown, painted in gold, and it marks the owner’s rank. Crowns of this kind appear on services made for the nobility and the court.
The crown is a small detail, but it changes the object’s meaning: the cup is not simply decorated, it is owned.
The Saucer
The saucer is white, with gold decoration.
A large monogram fills the centre, and flower sprays are scattered around it. The rim is banded with gold.
The saucer frames the cup and carries the monogram, and it is the object’s most legible surface.
Gardner
The cup was made at the Gardner factory.
The factory was founded in 1766 by Francis Gardner, an English merchant, in the village of Verbilki near Moscow. It became one of the most important porcelain works in Russia, and it supplied the court and the nobility.
Its wares are characterised by strong colours, rich gilding and a taste for personal monograms.
The Eighteenth Century
The cup was made in the second half of the eighteenth century.
It was the great age of Russian porcelain, when the imperial and private factories produced services for the court, the nobility and the merchant class. Monograms and coats of arms were common.
The cup belongs to that world: a small, personal object, made for a Russian household.
The Condition
The cup is worn.
The gilding is rubbed, especially on the rim and the handle, and there are small chips and stains. The monogram is faint in places.
The wear is a sign of use: the cup was filled, lifted and drunk from, and its condition records that daily life.
The Handle
The cup has a white handle.
It is a simple loop, painted with gold at its edges, and it contrasts with the crimson body. The handle is practical — it allows the cup to be lifted — and decorative.
Handles of this kind were standard on Gardner cups of the period, and they give the object its elegant silhouette.
The Gilding
The gilding is applied in bands and lines.
It covers the rim, the base and the monogram, and it is fired and burnished. The gold gives the object its richness, and it contrasts with the crimson and the white.
Gold is the most fragile part of the decoration, and it wears first where the object is handled.
The Shape
The cup is rounded, with a small foot.
It is a tea cup, and its shape is designed to be held between the fingers. Its crimson ground makes it look heavier than it is.
The shape is typical of Gardner cups of the period, and it is one of the signs of the factory’s style.
The Tea Table
The cup was made for a tea table.
It stood among other cups and saucers, and it was used for tea or coffee. Its crimson and gold would have caught the candlelight, and its monogram would have been read by the guests.
That table is gone, but the cup still carries its message: a name, a rank and a family.
The Collector
The cup came to the Hermitage with the Rudanovsky collection.
Rudanovsky collected Russian and European porcelain, and his collection included services, figures and small objects of many kinds.
The cup is therefore a double document: of the Gardner factory in the eighteenth century and of a Russian collector’s taste.
The White Reserve
The white reserve is the cup’s focus.
It is a small oval, cut into the crimson ground, and it contains the gilded monogram. The reserve is framed by a gold line, and it is the only white area on the outside of the cup.
Reserves of this kind are a common device in porcelain: they frame the decoration and separate it from the ground.
The Size
At 4.3 centimetres, the cup is small.
It fits in the palm of a hand, and it holds a single portion. Its smallness is part of its character: it is an object made for one person and one moment.
Small objects demand close attention, and this cup rewards it.
The Foot
The cup stands on a small foot.
It is white, with a gold band, and it raises the body from the saucer. The foot gives the cup stability, and it is the part that is hidden in use.
Foot rings of this kind are a feature of Gardner cups of the period, and their wear is a sign of use.
Provenance
The cup carries the inventory number ERF-434. It entered the Hermitage in 1919, handed over from the collection of A. K. Rudanovsky via the Office for the Preservation of Monuments of Art and Antiquity.
In the Hermitage
The cup is preserved in the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg and is not on permanent display.
It is a small, personal object, and it preserves a name: a crimson cup, a gold monogram and a crown, painted in Russia two centuries ago.
It is a small object, and it carries a name in gold, and it has done so for more than two centuries. It is a name, a cup and a crown, and it is enough.