The collection includes only finished products. Here we have a systematic, albeit succinct overview from the oldest works from the 4th and 3rd millennium BC from cultures unknown in Europe in central Russia (today the Tver area) to the 19th century.
In this great St Petersburg museum, which impresses with its magnificent collections of works of art, tsarist prizes and many other dizzyingly expensive objects, the amber collection is relatively modest. It numbers only 105 items, except that some of them are multi-piece sets, such as the chessboard with 32 figures or the flirt game (a large casket with four smaller ones in the middle, and a dozen or so fiches with engraved images in each). The collection includes only finished products. Here we have a systematic, albeit succinct overview from the oldest works of the 4th and 3rd millennium BC from cultures unknown in Europe in the area of central Russia (today around Tver) to the 19th century. The group of prehistoric wares from the Stara Ladoga area is also interesting. Representative of so-called Old Russia is a set of medieval wares associated with Orthodox Christianisation. The most common are isosceles crosses of the Greek type, designed to be worn on the body or clothing. Today's Ukraine is the most represented, but the other important centres of Rus' are also represented: Pskov, Novgorod and Gorodishche. Western European medieval amberwork is represented by decorative rosaries in which amber is complemented by decoration in precious metals and enamel.
As in all amber collections, the most striking and even impressive part of the Hermitage is the collection of modern works - from the Renaissance to Classicism. It opens with a small casket (105 x 79 x 89 mm) perfectly constructed without a wooden frame. It is the earliest example in the collection of an object of personal use not associated with religion or magic. The form and decoration are typical of the Northern European Renaissance. The floral ornament, engraved on the lid and relief on the walls, is directly borrowed from the patterns used in the late 16th century by the Gdansk and Königsberg masters.
Almost all the large sacred and decorative objects in the Hermitage collection come from these studios. Among the large utilitarian objects, the ones mentioned in the introduction stand out:
- a flirt game from the 18th century - the large casket (222 x 156 x 100 mm) with a wooden frame conceals 4 small ones with fissures in the shape of hearts, fish, squares and octagons, decorated with ornaments and inscriptions. The large and small caskets are exquisitely decorated with genre scenes and city views in delicate eglomising and engraving techniques, on the underside of transparent amber windows. A Danzig product;- the chess pieces circa 1710. - are complete; the large 365mm chessboard has 32 transparent fields carved on the underside intaglio (hollow) in the form of 8-pointed stars; the remaining half of the fields are plain bright amber. The figures are carved full-plastic - half in white amber, the other in transparent, honey-coloured amber. Königsberg product. In terms of artistic class and precision of workmanship, the highest marks are deserved:
- a slender goblet with a lid from the end of the 17th century - height 220 mm, diameter of the bowl 75 mm; the bowl is made of transparent amber; the bas-relief, fine decoration on the surface of the bowl distinguishes 4 sectors, where fantastic flying birds are depicted in the illusion of space. All the elements of the goblet are finely conceived and executed: the foot, stem, nodus, bowl and lid topped with a pineapple. The delicate elements needed to be reinforced with gilded borders;
- Mug on lions, with portraits of German princes from the end of the 17th century - diameter 144 mm, height 126 mm; with gilded ear and opening lid; made of dark (red) opaque amber, divided by spirally twisted columns of light amber. A unique masterpiece of Königsberg workmanship.
Both of the above vessels were in a state of disrepair until recently. They were reunited, completed and conserved by the experienced master Alexander Zhuravlov, the long-time artistic and technical head of the Amber Chamber decor reconstruction team. In the catalogue of the only exhibition of the Hermitage collection, which took place in 2002, he is the author of an excellent article on the principles of conservation of modern amber works.
Of the sacred works of the modern era, I would like to present a comparison of two Passions:
- A late 17th century Catholic cross with the Blessed Virgin Mary and St John and the inscription INRI (the figure of the crucified Christ has been lost) - 290 mm high. The simple cross of amber-clad wooden construction is placed on an elaborate and richly decorated pedestal, supported by four transparent spheres. The pedestal is a multi-coloured composition with crossed bands of marbled amber and large cabochons of transparent amber with biblical scenes engraved on the underside. There are elements of architectural orders (spiral columns, earlobes, miniature checkerboard floors). The author of the collection catalogue, Larisa Yakovleva, describes the pasque as a Königsberg product. This raises my doubts, as Königsberg was Lutheran at the end of the 17th century and the masters there worked for Protestant society. Catholic pasijki, on the other hand, were the speciality of the masters of Danzig, associated with the Catholic Polish market. Ms Yakovleva generally describes 17th century Danzig wares as: “Danzig - Germany” although it was the largest city and port of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
- Orthodox early 18th century also with the Blessed Virgin Mary and St John under the cross, but inscribed in Cyrillic. The statue of Christ has legs arranged in parallel and nailed with two nails (rather than crossed) in the Orthodox version - 640 mm high; the cross is made of amber elements set on metal pins, with symbols of the Evangelists at the ends of the arms. The pedestal is a solid architectural structure in the Baroque style, consisting of three tiers. The fields of the pedestal walls have windows of transparent amber through which scenes and symbols of the Passion of Christ carved in ivory are shown. Made in Königsberg or Gdansk.
I have devoted considerable space to descriptions of several works, as they give an idea of the very high rank of the entire collection, for which only exceptional objects were selected. In this context, the casket given to Tsar Peter I by Friedrich Wilhelm I, King of Prussia, along with the entire decoration of the Amber Cabinet, is surprisingly modest. This small (144 x 114 x 130 mm) object was already a monument at the time of the diplomatic donation. It is a fairly early Danzig product, purely of amber, without a wooden frame. It is a kind of supplement to this unusual transaction. The poor state of preservation prevents one from seeing the charm of the simple geometric composition.
Of particular interest to viewers from Poland is the amber medal with the likeness of King Jan III Sobieski. It is a round (68 mm in diameter) cameo with a faithful portrait image of the King-in-Chief in his prime, made of a single lump of yellow, opaque variety of amber, one-sided, framed in gilded silver. Made in Gdansk around 1684.
In a short essay, it is impossible to present many of the essential features of the Hermitage collection. However, I cannot omit in a single sentence the beautiful cutlery with amber handles (including from the Slupsk workshops), the Parisian spade with a beautifully carved handle of transparent amber and the rich collection of amber-sepiolite (sepiolite = sea foam) pipes of Viennese workmanship from the late 19th century.
All in all, it is essential to experience this collection in the wild, but doing so is not easy. Exhibitions of amber from the Hermitage are held on average once every 100 years. One was at the dawn of the 20th century, the other a century later in 2002. In addition, the people of Gdansk were able to see almost the entire collection in the second half of 2006 in the newly opened Amber Museum in the Fore Gate Complex of Długa Street. Unfortunately, the uniqueness of this occasion was not fully exploited, especially by the amber artists who are currently active. All we can hope for now is literature or the favour of the Hermitage curators during our stay in St Petersburg.