Product Description
May Night (Майская ночь). A romantic moment is depicted as Levko, the young Cossack, puts his arm around his beloved Hanna (Ganna) as she, in turn, lays her head upon his shoulder. Scene from the otherwise quite spooky short story "May Night" from Nikolai Gogol's "Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka", that was made into an opera by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Original design by Ukrainian sculptor and ceramicist Oksana Leontievna Zhnikrup (the wife of Vladislav Ivanovich Shcherbina). Porcelain, polychrome overglaze. 11¼"x4⅝"x4¼". Fine condition, no defects, no restoration. 1 only.
The Kiev Experimental Art Ceramics Factory (Kiev ECC) was founded in 1924 on the basis of a small workshop, which manufactured ceramic paints and decals. During World War II, the plant was destroyed but restored with the influx of capital investment. Mid-20th century found an expansion of the factory to manufacture decorative articles. Eventually the large art workshop became one of the best in the USSR at that time. Famous porcelain artists and sculptors that worked at the plant included O. L. Zhnikrup , V. I. Shcherbina , O. P. Rapay-Markish , G. M. Kaluga, A. D. Sorokin and many others. Also, Petrikov's painting on porcelain was introduced here for the first time. The fall of the USSR was not kind to these types of enterprises and eventually the factory ceased to exist. A collection of museum-quality pieces were to have been transferred to the State Museum of Decorative Ukrainian Art, but instead disappeared and presumed stolen.
Note: this figure is common when made by the Polonne Factory, but rare when made at the Kiev Factory.
