Bidspirit auction | [Rarity]. Tea Cup and Saucer

[Rarity]. Tea Cup and Saucer from the Service ”Ukrainian Ornament”. Model by Nikolai Alexandrovich Khrenov. Dulevo Porcelain Factory, USSR, 1947–1952. Porcelain, polychrome overglaze painting, cobalt blue ground, stencil printing, gilt edging. Mark: overglaze printed green ”FARFOR / ZAVOD / DULEVO / 2S”. Dimensions: cup height 5.5 cm, cup diameter 8 cm, saucer diameter 14.5 cm. Condition: excellent, collector's grade. Against the rich blue ground of the cup and saucer, a vivid folk ornament unfolds in the spirit of the Ukrainian decorative tradition: stylised yellow-and-red flowers and berries, green and pale-blue leaves, applied by stencil painting and supplemented with hand-drawn gilt lines. The model and decoration were designed by the artist N.A. Khrenov — a hereditary painter, son of A.A. Khrenov and pupil of the Palekh master N.M. Zinoviev; from 1934 he worked at the Dulevo Porcelain Factory, creating compositions inspired by folk folklore and literature. The tea cup and saucer were produced two years before the jubilee year of 1954, when the Dulevo factory embarked on the mass production of a series dedicated to the 300th anniversary of the reunification of Ukraine with Russia (1654–1954). The appearance of Ukrainian ornament on an object made two years before the jubilee is of particular collector's interest: an early, pre-jubilee example — an experimental development of the Dulevo artistic laboratory, preceding the mass jubilee series. Such early variants are extremely rare, since the main print run of Ukrainian-themed wares fell in 1954, while trial works of the late 1940s – early 1950s did not enter wide production. Nikolai Alexandrovich Khrenov (1912–1994) — Soviet porcelain painter, laureate of the bronze medal at the 1958 Brussels World's Fair for a dish illustrating the Tale of Tsar Saltan. His works are held in the All-Russian Pushkin Museum, the Museum of Folk Art, the Ostankino and Kuskovo State Museum-Reserve, the Samara Regional Art Museum and in other museum collections in Russia and worldwide. A milk jug from the same service ”Ukrainian Ornament” is held in the collection of the Ostankino and Kuskovo State Museum-Reserve and is published in the State Catalogue of the Museum Fund of the Russian Federation.