Russia. Bust Of The Writer I. A. Krylov Wearing A Coat With A Fur Collar. Rock Crystal. Ural.

Russia. Bust of the writer I. A. Krylov wearing a coat with a fur collar. Rock crystal. Ural. 19th century.

Rock crystal, carving, engraving, grinding, and polishing; base in lapis lazuli and gold.

Height: 10 cm.

The bust, carved in rock crystal, represents Ivan Andreyevich Krylov, one of the most recognizable figures of Russian literature of the 19th century. He is depicted wearing a coat with a fur collar, an iconographic element firmly established in portrait representations of the period.

Lapidary art in the Ural region began to develop in the 18th century following the discovery of important deposits of hard and semi-precious stones and reached a high level of technical specialization during the 19th century. Ekaterinburg became the main center for stone extraction and artistic working, where, alongside imperial manufactories, numerous private workshops were active in producing decorative objects and small-scale sculpture for a cultivated clientele.

Working rock crystal required exceptional skill and an in-depth understanding of the internal structure of the material. In this bust, the sculptural form is subordinated to the natural qualities of the stone. The volumes are simplified, the modeling is restrained, and academic idealization is avoided. The facial features are rendered through carving, engraving, and careful polishing, consistent with the practices of private Ural lapidary workshops of the 19th century.

The work belongs to the context of small-format busts in hard stone produced during this period and dedicated to figures of literature, science, and culture. Among the most frequently documented subjects are the scholar and naturalist M. V. Lomonosov, the poet and statesman G. R. Derzhavin, the writer and historian N. M. Karamzin, the poet V. A. Zhukovsky, and the writer I. A. Krylov. Representations of the poet A. S. Pushkin are generally later and considerably rarer.

The base, possibly executed at a later date, is made of lapis lazuli and gold, materials of notable value traditionally used in Ural decorative lapidary art.

A fine fissure is visible within the crystal, probably of natural origin; no damage is visible on the surface.