A scalloped porcelain plate decorated with an enamel portrait of Lenin and inscribed "He who does not work shall not eat". - image-1
A scalloped porcelain plate decorated with an enamel portrait of Lenin and inscribed "He who does not work shall not eat". - image-2
A scalloped porcelain plate decorated with an enamel portrait of Lenin and inscribed "He who does not work shall not eat". - image-3
A scalloped porcelain plate decorated with an enamel portrait of Lenin and inscribed "He who does not work shall not eat". - image-1A scalloped porcelain plate decorated with an enamel portrait of Lenin and inscribed "He who does not work shall not eat". - image-2A scalloped porcelain plate decorated with an enamel portrait of Lenin and inscribed "He who does not work shall not eat". - image-3

Lot 304 Dα

A scalloped porcelain plate decorated with an enamel portrait of Lenin and inscribed "He who does not work shall not eat".

Auction 1047 - overview Cologne
02.05.2015, 15:00 - Soviet Porcelain
Estimate: 8.000 € - 10.000 €
Result: 31.000 € (incl. premium)
Artist Alert
Print page
Watchlist

A scalloped porcelain plate decorated with an enamel portrait of Lenin and inscribed "He who does not work shall not eat".

The decor with stylised socialist emblems, stamps, the monogram RSFSR and ration coupons, dated 1921. With a green stamped Nicholas II 1899 mark and green enamel hammer, sickle and cog mark of 1923; 243 and 27. D 25 cm.
Fired by IPM St. Petersburg 1899, painted by SPM 1923, the decor probably after a motif by M. M. Adamovich.

This portrait of Lenin is based on a sketch made by Natan Altman during the revolutionary leader's lifetime. The typography of the originally biblical motto "He who does not work shall not eat" is based on a sketched design by Chekhonin from 1921. The haphazard arrangement of the motifs mimics a Baroque quodlibet, but using contemporary political propaganda materials.

Literature

Cf. Lobanov-Rostovsky, Revolutionskeramik. Sowjetisches Porzellan 1917-1927, London/Basel 1990, no. 2 (a later plate with obvious qualitative defecits).
Cf. also cat.: Russisches und Sowjetisches Porzellan, Karlsruhe 1991, no. 57 (a piece from Peterhof Castle).
Cf. also cat.: Soviet Porcelain from the Collection of Craig H. and Kay A. Tuber, The Art Institute of Chicago 1992, No. 4 (illus. on the cover).