After the model by Alisa Brusketti-Mitrokhina, realistically modelled and painted as a standing woman, wearing a purple coat, white dress, hat and veil, holding a shawl and a petticoat, with a teddy bear by her feet, on a shaped base dated '1919' and decorated with stylised images of books and shoes, marked under base with indistinct green underglaze mark, black overglaze Jubilee mark for the fifth anniversary of the State Porcelain Factory, also numbered '94/33', and incised with Cyrillic initials 'IK' for Ivan Kuznetsov
11³⁄₈ in. (29 cm.) high

Mikhail Alexeyevich Sergeev (1888-1965), scientist and economist, one of the first commissars of the State Bank of the USSR.
Acquired from the estate of the above by the parents of the previous owner in the 1960s.
Property from a Private Scandinavian Collection; Christie's London, 26 November 2018, lot 353.

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Lot Essay

Alisa Brusketti-Mitrokhina (1872–1942) created the model 'Bourgeois Selling Her Wares at a Market' in 1918, capturing the dramatic social transformation experienced by the Russian nobility following the Revolution of 1917. The piece quickly gained popularity both in the Soviet Union and abroad, leading to the production of additional figurines in the years that followed. The present example has a 1923 Jubilee mark but is inscribed ‘1919’ on the foreground as a reference to the historical past.

The woman depicted on the figurine is clearly of aristocratic background, and is shown forced to sell her personal belongings. This piece offers a poignant visual commentary on the upheaval brought about by the rise of the Soviet regime.

A comparable figurine dated circa 1925 was sold Sotheby's, London, 3 June 2014, lot 534. For other comparable models, see E. Sametskaya, Soviet Propaganda Porcelain, Moscow, 2004, p. 84, no. 1 [1], and N. Lobanov-Rostovsky, Revolutionary Ceramics Soviet Porcelain 1917-1927, London, 1990, p. 92, no. 86.