Existing comment:
Case 5. A Waning Welcome:
"Come, share bread and salt with us" is a traditional Russian greeting offered to visitors. During a trip to southern Russia in 1888, Czar Alexander III and Czarina Maria Feodorovna received several large, highly decorated ceremonial dishes from provincial dignitaries. Made by the firm of Ivan Khlebnikov, one of Faberge's strongest competitors, the example shown here bears the royal couple's monograms and the date of their visit. Engraved landscapes, identified with inscriptions, depict significant spots in the Kherson region of the southern Ukraine on the Black Sea. The "loyal zemstvo (women's organization) of Kherson" proudly brought a village agricultural school, a floating bridge, and a hospital to the attention of their ruler.
At the time of his marriage in 1894, Nicholas II was given more than 120 such ceremonial dishes. He recalled in his diary, "In the courtyard of the Arachkov Palace we received the salute of a guard of honor... Mamma was waiting in our rooms to present us with the bread and salt." For the traditional ceremony, a round loaf, covered with an embroidered cloth, was placed on the monumental plate. A cellar filled with salt sat atop the bread.
The richly ornamented salt dish contrasts poignantly with a simple copper commemorative bowl whose only ornament is an embossed Russian eagle and "War 1914" in Cyrillic characters. As the Romanov hold over Russia gradually crumbled, grand state visits gave way to wartime deprivation. Yet the family remained close-knit until the dynasty fell with the abdication of Nicholas II in 1917. The following year, tragedy overwhelmed the last czar and his family at the hands of the Bolsheviks. |