Britannia and Muscovy: English Silver at the Court of the Tsars

Edited by Natalya Abramova and Olga Dmitrieva

With contributions from Paul Bushkovitch, Olga Dmitrieva, Philippa Glanville, Maija Jannson, Edward Kasinec, and Robert H. Davis Jr.

Published by the Yale Center for British Art in association with Yale University Press

304 pages, 10 x 9 1/2 inches, 245 illustrations, cloth, ISBN 978-0-300-11678-6

Publication date: July 28, 2006

Description

This superbly illustrated book accompanies an exhibition of thirty objects from the exceptional collection of English silver in the Moscow Kremlin Museums, where the world’s greatest surviving group of English sixteenth- and seventeenth-century silver is housed. Much of the silver from this period was melted down during the English Civil War, making the pieces at the Kremlin exceedingly rare and historically important. The silver items—a large water pot with snake-shaped handle and spout, a flat drinking cup, a magnificent flagon shaped like a leopard, and more—exemplify the developing ties between England and Russia. Some pieces were brought to Russia as diplomatic gifts, some were presented by English trading agents, while others were purchased for the tsar’s treasury. Setting these silver treasures in fuller context, the catalogue also features precious objects made by Russian craftsmen, a group of English firearms from the Kremlin collection, and portraits, engravings, books, and maps that illuminate the important diplomatic and commercial exchanges that were taking place between the two countries. The publication was selected by Choice magazine as an Outstanding Academic Title from 2007.