LOMONOSOV PORCELAIN
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 Russian porcelain was not a topic of interest among European experts and porcelain lovers until quite recently. There was no comprehensive documentation in existence for one thing, and, also, there were very few pieces from the Lomonosov factory on view in European museums and private collections.
When I began to visit Russian museums twenty-five years ago, I was repeatedly surprised by the quality of the objects, the variety of forms and the perfection of the decorative painting on the pieces produced by the St. Petersburg factory. In 1990, during a visit to the Lomonosov factory, I was able to see for myself that the excellent tradition of porcelain decoration was still very much alive. The objects, with the balance and delicacy of their decor, were fascinating.
It is a happy coincidence that the 250th jubilee of the Lomonosov factory in St. Petersburg provided an opportunity for the authors Galina Agarkova and Nataliya Petrova to prepare and publish the history of the plant. At the same time it has been possible to photograph many of the products of this factory. The factory's own collection, begun in 1844, comprises a major part of the work while objects from the Russian Museum and the Palace Museum of Pavlovsk complete the pictorial presentation. Thus it has been possible to assemble documentation which provides a comprehensive picture of the factory's beginnings, its development and the products of this very important Russian porcelain factory.
 Tsar Peter the Great was fascinated by Bottger's invention at the court of Saxony. From 1718 onward, he tried to penetrate the secret of the 'white gold', but neither the foreigners summoned to the Russian court nor his endeavours to get at the arcanum at Dresden proved effective. A recipe bought around 1740 at a high price from a master porcelain maker to the Emperor of China proved equally useless. It was only from 1744 onwards, when Christoph Conrad Hunger was called to St. Petersburg, that attempts to produce porcelain met with success. Hunger, who had worked with Bottger at Meissen, and had later been employed in Vienna, Venice, Stockholm and again in Vienna, was made gilder and enamel painter. But he proved not to have a pleasing hand at porcelain manufacture and he was expelled from the country in 1748. It was his successor, Dmitri Vino-gradov, a mining engineer who had studied metallurgy in Freiberg and a talented technician who documented his porcelain studies with precision whose working methods, who ensured the survival and further development of the Imperial Porcelain Manufactury. To this day his notes on production technology provide the basis of porcelain manufacture at what is now the Lomonosov factory.
 If one looks at the products of this factory, so richly illustrated in this monograph, it is clear that, as in the European centres of manufacture, its production was oriented to the needs of the court. Ranging from the first snuff boxes to the multi-figured centrepieces for the tsars' table and the monumental vases of the 19th century, everything bears the imprint of the imperial patrons. The technical development of porcelain production led to the attainment of high standards. The catalogue shows that the great porcelain services embraced everything a princely table of the time could possibly demand, and the art of decorating these pieces was masterly. The porcelain from the imperial factory was not only magnificent, but showed from the beginning the traits of a typically Russian perception of beauty. Rich, decorative shapes were created, and were equally richly painted. The abundant variety of motifs in their density of colour, whether floral or ornamental; the narrative verve of pictorial images; the exuberance of the sculptural elements - all these united to form an unmistakable whole. The porcelain sculptures shows similar characteristics. Pieces intended as table decorations are monumental, aiming at ceremonial splendour, but in the small figures from the series "Peoples of Russia" (1780-1800) the narrative element, nourished by the rich treasure of Russian folk art, comes fully into its own. Equally, the series "Tradesmen and Artisans" of the same period, for all its connections with the European "cris-de-Paris" figures, could not be more Russian.
Towards the end of the 19th century artistic vitality was visibly waning, many more copies of European models were produced and there was no longer any innovative spirit at work.
 In this contradictory situation — perfection of the technical mastery of porcelain manufacture and decoration coupled with a decline in artistic vitality — some members of the recently founded artist group "World of Art" joined the porcelain factory. Their aim was to instil new artistic values and it was men from this group who created totally new decorations when the factory became state-owned in 1917. Now "Agitprop" porcelain was produced, with slogans and aphorisms in praise of the revolution and the new regime. Parallel to this, the traditional themes of eternal Russia — country life with its abundance of flowers, peasants, fishermen and the world of Russian mythology — came into their own. The Suprematist pieces were also produced at that time. All pieces dating from the first ten years after the revolution are characterised by vivid colours. It is as if a volcanic eruption had taken place, bringing forth incredibly vivacious new things out of an ossified past. The following decades brought a diminution of the impetus for creating new ceramic forms. The narrative element from the world of myth and fairy tale was given more scope, peopled landscapes and colourful flowers became more usual, until 1968 when there appeared the very fine-shelled tea cups with delicate, gold ornamented patterns which so enchanted us when we visited the Lomonosov factory in 1990. Recently these pieces have found their way to western Europe and they reflect a new flowering and continuing perfection from within the ancient walls of the St. Petersburg factory.
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The Lomonosov Porcelain Factory (Imperial) was founded in 1744 in St. Petersburg by decree of Empress Elisabeth, Peter the Great's daughter. Its porcelain represents indeed the traits of typically Russian perception of beauty. Their masters create hand-made and hand-painted porcelain and continue noble artistic traditions set by famous Russian artists. 
