Formal opening of the exhibition “Items from Russian Imperial Services, the Eighteenth to Early Twentieth Centuries. The Gift of Mikhail Karisalov”

On 13 January 2023, the exhibition “Items from Russian Imperial Services, the Eighteenth to Early Twentieth Centuries. The Gift of Mikhail Karisalov” was formally opened in the Armorial Hall of the Winter Palace. The display was presented to guests attending the ceremony by Mikhail Borisovich Piotrovsky, General Director of the State Hermitage, and Mikhail Yuryevich Karisalov, the donor.

“Today we are opening the exhibition of ‘Items from Russian Imperial Services, the Eighteenth to Early Twentieth Centuries’. Mikhail Yuryevich Karisalov, a hereditary art collector and patron, is making us a gift of a huge collection of pieces from porcelain table services that were used in the Winter Palace and other palaces. An absolutely amazing present, a staggering selection, coupled also with the work, the searching, and a splendid grasp of what a museum is. We are very grateful to Mikhail Yuryevich,” Mikhail Piotrovsky said.

“Thanks to your work, millions of people have the opportunity to make contact in a broad sense with art and culture. I am very proud and grateful to you, Mikhail Borisovich, the staff of the Hermitage and the whole museum community, everyone who preserves, studies and enables this to last for ever,” Mikhail Yuryevich Karisalov responded in his turn.

Also participating in the opening ceremony were Svetlana Borisovna Adaksina, Chief Curator of the State Hermitage, Alexander Vladimirovich Prokhorenko, Deputy General Director of the State Hermitage, Viacheslav Anatolyevich Feodorov, head of the Department of the History of Russian Culture, Irina Radikovna Bagdasarova, academic secretary of the Department of the History of Russian Culture and curator of the exhibition, Marina Alexeyevna Bliumin, head of the New Acquisitions Sector, and Yelena Nikolayevna Karisalova, President of the Still Art Foundation.

The exhibition features 136 items from dining services used by Russian rulers dating from the 18th to early 20th centuries – unique works of applied art that have been donated to the State Hermitage by Mikhail Yuryevich Karisalov.

It is significant that in one go the museum collection has been enriched with pieces from twelve imperial services that were created at the Imperial Porcelain Factory in Saint Petersburg, the Meissen and Berlin manufactories over a period spanning reigns from Empress Elizabeth to Nicholas II. The display brings out the significance and historical value of each of the exhibits for the museum collection and at the same time tells about Russian history and culture.

Mikhail Karisalov’s gift has enriched the main collection of imperial porcelain in the State Hermitage’s Department of the History of Russian Culture. The new physical material has expanded fundamental knowledge about the composition of the services and additions to them, made it possible to establish more precisely the practice of marking historical porcelain, to identify nuances in the artistic decoration from various period and the purpose of shapes used in tableware for formal and everyday meals in imperial Russia.

The exhibition can be visited by all holders of tickets to the Main Museum Complex.

More about the exhibition.