Bookmark for the edition of “History and Monuments of tht Byzantine Enamel Art”.
History and Monuments of the Byzantine Enamel Art. by N. Kondakov, professor of the St. Petersburg University and senior curator of the Imperial Hermitage Museum".
The publication describes the unique collection of Byzantine enamels dating from the tenth and eleventh centuries amassed by the famous Russian connoisseur A.V. Zvenigorodsky. The treatise on the history of the Byzantine art and the scientific analysis of the enamels in the collection was written by N. Kondakov who was the Russia’s leading Byzantium scholar in those days, and the German scholar A. Schultz (in case of copies printed in the German language); the famous Russian art critic V.V. Stasov also took an active part in preparing the book for publication. From the outset A.V. Zvenigorodsky had conceived the work as a deluxe edition that was expected to outshine the book "Imitation de Jesus-Christ" published in Paris in 1855 on the instructions of Napoleon III with the aim to glorify France and become an unsurpassed masterpiece of the printing art for all epochs and nations. The French book was sent to every country of the world, except belligerent Russia.
Zvenigorodsky’s idea was that “Byzantine Enamels” should overshadow the French book by its beauty and perfection.
The book is of a large format (the block is 37 cm high), it is kept in a gorgeous case and has a thick silk (or brocade) jacket with Zvenigorodsky’s first and last names woven on it. The all-leather binding is made of white shagreen leather and adorned with stamped, inlaid and enameled designs in the Byzantine style. Similar Byzantine designs stamped in gold and colour decorate the edges.
The publication describes the unique collection of Byzantine enamels dating from the tenth and eleventh centuries amassed by the famous Russian connoisseur A.V. Zvenigorodsky. The treatise on the history of the Byzantine art and the scientific analysis of the enamels in the collection was written by N. Kondakov who was the Russia’s leading Byzantium scholar in those days, and the German scholar A. Schultz (in case of copies printed in the German language); the famous Russian art critic V.V. Stasov also took an active part in preparing the book for publication. From the outset A.V. Zvenigorodsky had conceived the work as a deluxe edition that was expected to outshine the book "Imitation de Jesus-Christ" published in Paris in 1855 on the instructions of Napoleon III with the aim to glorify France and become an unsurpassed masterpiece of the printing art for all epochs and nations. The French book was sent to every country of the world, except belligerent Russia.
Zvenigorodsky’s idea was that “Byzantine Enamels” should overshadow the French book by its beauty and perfection.
The book is of a large format (the block is 37 cm high), it is kept in a gorgeous case and has a thick silk (or brocade) jacket with Zvenigorodsky’s first and last names woven on it. The all-leather binding is made of white shagreen leather and adorned with stamped, inlaid and enameled designs in the Byzantine style. Similar Byzantine designs stamped in gold and colour decorate the edges.
The book is supplemented with a bookmark – a broad band woven of multi-coloured silks, gold and silver threads, with a quotation from the Greek classic Euripides, which translates as follows: “Turn these talking pages that sing praise to the wise”.
The first page of the volume which was designed by the architect I. P. Ropet and looks like gems glistening against the silver background (aluminum print) carries a dedication to Alexander III. At the end of the book 28 sheets with illustrations of enamels are attached; the method of chromolithography was made use of: the type used for composing the inscriptions under the pictures was cast expressly for this publication and imitates the characters used in the oldest dated Slavic manuscript, the Ostromir Gospel. The other decorative details of the book, such as its initials and head- and end-pieces, also imitate accurately the decoration style used in ancient Russian manuscripts. Three countries participated in the artistic and technical execution of the Byzantine Enamels book: Russia, France and Germany, the finish of each copy being custom-made.
Thus the drawings of the enamels were made by St. Petersburg’s best artists, the engraving work was supervised by the engraver V. V. Matte, the silk for the jacket and bookmark was woven by Sapozhnikov’s factory in Moscow, the superb thick paper came from Strasbourg, the binding was done by Hübel and Denk in Leipzig and the illustrations were printed by August Osterrit’s lithography press in Frankfurt am Main where the printing of the French and German texts of the volume was also made, with all the Russian copies of the book having been printed in I. M. Stasiulevich’s press. All gold decorations were done in sterling gold. It is hardly surprising that contemporaries described the volume as “a book in princely clothes”, “a Russian miracle” and “a true artistic landmark”.
The edition was not for sale, as each of its copies had a subscription number and the name and title of the person it had been designed for. According to contemporary newspaper reports of that time, the books were sent for the most part to “crowned persons, famous scholars and outstanding libraries”. The majority of the copies found their way abroad, their owners including the monarchs of Italy, Sweden, Romania, Belgium, Spain and other countries, the Sultan of Turkey, the Emir of Boukhara, the Emperor of Austria, etc. A few copies (those intended for Zvenigorodsky’s friends and relations) were supplemented with his portrait engraved on wood by V. V. Matte. When Zvenigorodsky went bankrupt and had to sell his collection two thirds of it proved to be fakes. At once his fabulous book lost its scientific value and significance; nevertheless, it has remained a great rarity to this day, an outstanding monument of the Russian art of book printing in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The first page of the volume which was designed by the architect I. P. Ropet and looks like gems glistening against the silver background (aluminum print) carries a dedication to Alexander III. At the end of the book 28 sheets with illustrations of enamels are attached; the method of chromolithography was made use of: the type used for composing the inscriptions under the pictures was cast expressly for this publication and imitates the characters used in the oldest dated Slavic manuscript, the Ostromir Gospel. The other decorative details of the book, such as its initials and head- and end-pieces, also imitate accurately the decoration style used in ancient Russian manuscripts. Three countries participated in the artistic and technical execution of the Byzantine Enamels book: Russia, France and Germany, the finish of each copy being custom-made.
Thus the drawings of the enamels were made by St. Petersburg’s best artists, the engraving work was supervised by the engraver V. V. Matte, the silk for the jacket and bookmark was woven by Sapozhnikov’s factory in Moscow, the superb thick paper came from Strasbourg, the binding was done by Hübel and Denk in Leipzig and the illustrations were printed by August Osterrit’s lithography press in Frankfurt am Main where the printing of the French and German texts of the volume was also made, with all the Russian copies of the book having been printed in I. M. Stasiulevich’s press. All gold decorations were done in sterling gold. It is hardly surprising that contemporaries described the volume as “a book in princely clothes”, “a Russian miracle” and “a true artistic landmark”.
The edition was not for sale, as each of its copies had a subscription number and the name and title of the person it had been designed for. According to contemporary newspaper reports of that time, the books were sent for the most part to “crowned persons, famous scholars and outstanding libraries”. The majority of the copies found their way abroad, their owners including the monarchs of Italy, Sweden, Romania, Belgium, Spain and other countries, the Sultan of Turkey, the Emir of Boukhara, the Emperor of Austria, etc. A few copies (those intended for Zvenigorodsky’s friends and relations) were supplemented with his portrait engraved on wood by V. V. Matte. When Zvenigorodsky went bankrupt and had to sell his collection two thirds of it proved to be fakes. At once his fabulous book lost its scientific value and significance; nevertheless, it has remained a great rarity to this day, an outstanding monument of the Russian art of book printing in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Information source: http://www.radmuseumart.ru
News of the Radishchev Museum is the official portal of the Radishchev State Art Museum, a federal state cultural institution in the city of Saratov.
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