The Boyar’s Daughter

On the back of the panel is the "АФМ" trademark brand and a handwritten inscription in dark pigment: "The panel is based on the painting "The Boyar’s Daughter” (1896) by Zhuravlev F. S. 1836–1901, paint. on porcelain, N. Tchaikovsky".

The painting was created at the Andreyevskaya Porcelain Manufactory (APM) by the porcelain artist N. Tchaikovskaya based on the painting by the Russian artist F. S. Zhuravlev, a recognized master of genre painting and a portrait painter.

Firs Sergeyevich Zhuravlev (1836–1901) graduated from the St. Petersburg Imperial Academy of Arts, where he was awarded a few silver medals, and a minor gold medal and the title of Academician of Painting. He is widely known to the public as a master of the everyday genre, who created textbook memorable images of merchant life in the mid-19th century that could fully and in detail show the way of life and contemporary customs.

Expertise in porcelain painting and craftsmanship enabled the N. Tchaikovskaya, a talented APM artist, to reproduce on a porcelain panel the wonderful image of a beautiful woman, the “boyar’s daughter”, portrayed in a Russian costume by F. S. Zhuravlev. The porcelain artist reproduced in detail the original composition on a small porcelain panel; she inscribed the portrait in an oval and transformed the image closer to a miniature painting.

The young girl in a rich silk embroidered brocade folk costume, wearing pearl beads and an lace Kokoshnik (a traditional headdress) sits by a painted tiled stove with her hand placed on her cheek. Her gentle face has a slight blush and wonderful grey eyes, and is calm and pretty. The young beauty’s outfit evokes the memory of Russian antiquity. The artist admiringly paints all the detailed texture of expensive patterned fabrics, and the gilded headdress. The image is gentle and harmonious, it captivates with youth and beauty.

The picture is completed in bright rich colors with subtle color gradations. It is a display of an accurate design and a masterly level of attainment.