Product Description
Ukrainian Musicians. Vintage Ukrainian porcelain sculpture depicting two young men in a spirited folk dance. Polonnoe Artistic Ceramics Factory (Полонский фарфоровый завод художественной керамики). 1970s. Designed by N. Bobik. Porcelain, overglaze art painting, gilding. Blue swan Polonne backstamp indicating price (at the time). Near fine condition, no defects, no restoration. 7½" in height, 8¼" width.
Nikolay Fedorovich Bobik [Николай Федорович Бобик] (1929-2010) was born in the village of Mala Chernigovka, Zhitomir region. He worked at the Polonsky Plant of Artistic Ceramics (Полонский завод художественной керамики) from 1956-1995, where, as chief sculptor/artist, he was an acknowledged master of artistic ceramics. He also organized the factory musuem.
Polonne is a city on the Khomora River in Shepetivka Raion, Khmelnytskyi Oblast of western Ukraine. Originally it was built as a castle fortress on the banks of the river. Its recorded history dates 998. After passing through many regimes, Polonne's status was finally settled in 1938, when it became a city. Well before, in the 1880s, porcelain and earthenware was produced on the Polonsky estate. In 1895, an "artel" named Keramik, which is a cooperative of craftsmen, and the future Polonsky factory of artistic ceramics founded in 1956, was opened, which in turn, became a significant porcelain works churning out millions of porcelain products annually, including many unique and beautiful pieces. After Ukraine's Independence, it was privatized and still thrived. Over time, however, economic weakness and foreign porcelain imports coupled with tax inspection and pension funding forced the company into bankruptcy in 2011. The legacy still appears to exist through the Khmelnytsky Regional Museum.
