{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1642259"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1642259/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2021NB6528/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2021NB6528/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2021NB6528","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2021NB6529","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2021NB6535","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2021NB6533","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2021NB6530","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2021NB6531","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2021NB6532","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2021NB6534","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2021NB6536","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2021NB6537","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2021NB6538","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2021NB6832","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2021NB6833","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2021NB6834","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2021NB6835","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O1642259/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1642259","accessionNumber":"W.19-2021","objectType":"Desk","titles":[{"title":"Desk","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"This desk is based on a design by Antonovich Monighetti, a leading architect and designer at the imperial Russian court. It is a bold and striking example of ‘Russian Style’ or ‘Russian Revival’ furniture, the practitioners of which drew inspiration from traditional buildings and folk art. Here, Monighetti has used details such as the illustionistic hanging textile motifs on the doors and back panels, evoking traditional embroidery; carved columns, modelled on historical woodwork; and elaborate nickel-plated iron mounts, based on seventeenth-century Russian metalwork. The top, a slab of quartzite, is probably Russian.\n\nAn engraved silver plaque on the desk states that it was given by the Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich to Lt. Col. Arthur Ellis, Equerry to HRH the Prince of Wales. The Grand Duke, a son of the reigning Tzar, Alexander II of Russia, visited England in 1871. Ellis attended the Grand Duke during his engagements, which included a garden party held by Queen Victoria at Buckingham Palace on 23 June, and a state ball held by her at the palace a few days later.","physicalDescription":"Desk, based on a design by Ippolit Antonovich Monighetti. Russian; possibly made by the workshop of Hermann Wilhelm Büchtger, St Petersburg. \r\n","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Monighetti, Ippolit Antonovich","id":"AUTH373327"},"association":{"text":"Designer","id":"x36960"},"note":""},{"name":{"text":"Büchtger, Hermann Wilhelm","id":"AUTH373329"},"association":{"text":"maker","id":"AAT25370"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"Walnut","id":"AAT12476"},{"text":"maple","id":"AAT12236"},{"text":"pine","id":"AAT12620"},{"text":"iron","id":"AAT11002"},{"text":"quartzite","id":"AAT11623"}],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Walnut, maple, softwood, and possibly amaranth, part stained, nickel-plated iron mounts, and quartzite, probably Russian","categories":[{"text":"Furniture","id":"THES48948"},{"text":"Furniture","id":"THES48948"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"FWK","id":"THES48597"},"images":["2021NB6528","2021NB6529","2021NB6535","2021NB6533","2021NB6530","2021NB6531","2021NB6532","2021NB6534","2021NB6536","2021NB6537","2021NB6538","2021NB6832","2021NB6833","2021NB6834","2021NB6835"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"133","id":"THES49881"},"free":"","case":"BY12","shelf":"EXP","box":""},{"current":{"text":"133","id":"THES49881"},"free":"","case":"BY12","shelf":"EXP","box":""},{"current":{"text":"133","id":"THES49881"},"free":"","case":"BY12","shelf":"EXP","box":""},{"current":{"text":"133","id":"THES49881"},"free":"","case":"BY12","shelf":"EXP","box":""},{"current":{"text":"133","id":"THES49881"},"free":"","case":"BY12","shelf":"EXP","box":""},{"current":{"text":"133","id":"THES49881"},"free":"","case":"BY12","shelf":"EXP","box":""},{"current":{"text":"133","id":"THES49881"},"free":"","case":"BY12","shelf":"EXP","box":""},{"current":{"text":"133","id":"THES49881"},"free":"","case":"BY12","shelf":"EXP","box":""},{"current":{"text":"133","id":"THES49881"},"free":"","case":"BY12","shelf":"EXP","box":""},{"current":{"text":"133","id":"THES49881"},"free":"","case":"BY12","shelf":"EXP","box":""},{"current":{"text":"133","id":"THES49881"},"free":"","case":"BY12","shelf":"EXP","box":""},{"current":{"text":"133","id":"THES49881"},"free":"","case":"BY12","shelf":"EXP","box":""},{"current":{"text":"133","id":"THES49881"},"free":"","case":"BY12","shelf":"EXP","box":""},{"current":{"text":"133","id":"THES49881"},"free":"","case":"BY12","shelf":"EXP","box":""},{"current":{"text":"FWK3","id":"THES49462"},"free":"","case":"KEYS","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Frieze","id":"AAT1816"}],[{"text":"Pedestal","id":"AAT1744"}],[{"text":"Pedestal","id":"AAT1744"}],[{"text":"Stretcher","id":"AAT10583"}],[{"text":"Top","id":"AAT121968"}],[{"text":"Drawer","id":"AAT40558"}],[{"text":"Drawer","id":"AAT40558"}],[{"text":"Drawer","id":"AAT40558"}],[{"text":"Drawer","id":"AAT40558"}],[{"text":"Drawer","id":"AAT40558"}],[{"text":"Drawer","id":"AAT40558"}],[{"text":"Drawer","id":"AAT40558"}],[{"text":"Drawer","id":"AAT40558"}],[{"text":"Drawer","id":"AAT40558"}],[{"text":"Keys","id":"x47941"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"No","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"St Petersburg","id":"x29178"},"association":{"text":"Designed and made","id":"x39722"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1871","earliest":"1871-01-01","latest":"1871-12-31"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Purchased with support from The Hon Pete Czernin and Art Fund","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"78.7","unit":"cm","qualifier":"approx","date":{"text":"05/10/2021","earliest":"2021-10-05","latest":"2021-10-05"},"part":"whole","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"152.8","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"05/10/2021","earliest":"2021-10-05","latest":"2021-10-05"},"part":"whole","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"83","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"05/10/2021","earliest":"2021-10-05","latest":"2021-10-05"},"part":"whole","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Object measured by Max Donnelly","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Antonovich Monighetti (1819-78), of Swiss-Italian descent, was born in Moscow, where he attended the Stroganov Art Academy. He went on to study at the Imperial Academy of Arts in St Petersburg, matriculating with a gold medal in 1839. A portrait of him by Karl Briullov, painted in 1840, is in the collection of the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow (Mus. No. 011130). Extensive journeys in Egypt and Italy in the 1840s encouraged and informed Monighetti’s interest in revivalist architecture, and throughout his career he undertook commissions for the Imperial family, designing villas in Tsarskoye Seloe, including those for Princess Yusopov and Prince Bagration. In 1850 Tsar Nicholas I commissioned him to design a Turkish style bathhouse, in the form of a mosque, in the Catherine Park at Tsarskoye Seloe, and in the 1860s he refurbished several rooms in the Catherine Palace. Alexander II commissioned him to design his summer residence in Livadiya, Crimea, where the neo-Byzantine church remains. Monighetti designed interiors for the Yusopov Palace in St Petersburg in the 1860s, but very little of his work remains owing to extensive remodelling of the interiors in later years; he also designed the interiors of the Imperial yachts, <i>Derzhava</i> (1871) and <i>Livadia</i> (1873).\n\nThe attribution of the design of this desk to Monighetti is based on a watercolour design for an almost identical desk, which is inscribed (apparently signed): ‘Antonovich Monighetti’. The design is held in the Russian State Historical Archive, St Petersburg, and has been reproduced in two publications (see references). It is not known whether a desk was executed as per the drawing and, if it was, whether it or other desks survive. In one publication (Prohorov) the design is dated to c.1860 but it is more likely to be closer to 1870 given that the desk was made c.1871. The design also bears a later stamp of the St Petersburg cabinetmaker Büchtger, in which workshop the desk may have been made. Hermann Büchtger (1818–96) was from Vindiva (present-day Ventspils, Latvia) and active in St Petersburg from 1850. In 1862 he received the title of Court Supplier to the Grand-Elect Mikhail Nikolaevich. Büchtger and Monighetti worked together on several projects. \n\nMonighetti was one of several graduates of the Imperial Academy of Arts, including Fiodor Solntsev, Victor Hartman and Joseph Ropet, who developed a formal Russian Revival style from the 1840s to the 1880s. This style resulted from the attempts of Russian architects and designers to revive the cultural legacy of Russia by studying earlier Russian art and architecture and applying traditional motifs and techniques to their work. The style became fashionable among a small strata of royal and aristocratic patrons in the 1860s and 1870s. Many of his architectural designs from this period reflected the influence of Russian and Byzantine art. Buildings included the Russian church in Vevey, Switzerland (1878) and the sepulchre for Alexander II’s illegitimate children at Tsarskoye Seloe. However, perhaps the most outstanding example is the Polytechnic Museum (opened 1877), near Red Square in Moscow.\n\r\nOn this desk, Monighetti incorporated ‘plait’ (embroidered textile) motifs drawn from folk art sources on the front doors and back panels, while the metalwork appears to have been inspired by seventeenth-century metalwork (for example, an orb stand dating from the reign of Peter the Great, made in the Kremlin workshops and now displayed in the State Armory of the Kremlin Palace, Moscow). The design also relates to a suite of furniture attributed to Monighetti, dated to c.1870 and now at Pavlovsk Palace, notably a series of chairs, which make a great play of the draped ‘plait’ effect on their seats and backs, as well as relating to several pieces of Monighetti furniture in the collection of the State Hermitage Museum.\n\nA silver plaque affixed to the front of the desk reads: ‘To Lt. Col Arthur Ellis, Grenadier Guards, from the Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia in remembrance of HIH’s visit to England, June 1871.’ Arthur (later Sir Arthur) Ellis was the second son of Lt. Col. The Hon. Augustus Frederick Ellis. After fighting in the Crimean War he gained the rank of Major-General in the Grenadier Guards. As an aristocratic soldier he served in the household of Queen Victoria and became close with her eldest son, Edward. Ellis was Equerry to the Prince of Wales during the Grand Duke’s private visit to England in 1871. Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich was the second surviving son of Tsar Alexander II. He arrived in Dover, from Germany, in May 1871 and on 30 May he accompanied the Prince and Princess of Wales on a visit to the International Exhibition in London ‘where they were engaged some hours in going over the several departments’. Ellis attended the Grand Duke during his visit and is recorded as doing so at a garden party held by Queen Victoria at Buckingham Palace on 23 June, as well as at a state ball held by her at the Palace on 27 June. ","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Desk, based on a design by Monighetti, made in St Petersburg, c.1871","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["W.19:1-2021","W.19:2-2021","W.19:3-2021","W.19:4-2021","W.19:5-2021","W.19:6-2021","W.19:7-2021","W.19:8-2021","W.19:9-2021","W.19:10-2021","W.19:11-2021","W.19:12-2021","W.19:13-2021","W.19:14-2021","W.19:15-2021"],"accessionNumberNum":"19","accessionNumberPrefix":"W","accessionYear":2021,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2021NB7419"],"recordModificationDate":"2026-05-26","recordCreationDate":"2021-07-12","availableToBook":false}}