BOX WITH MEDAL OF NICHOLAS I

Creator(s): Firm of Keibel (Attributed to) , Aleksandr Lialin (Medalist)

On view in: Icon Room

About this object

The body of this presentation box and the medal of Nicholas I at the center of its cover are made of platinum. The rest of the applied decoration is executed in red, yellow, pink, and white gold. The use of platinum coincided with the excitement generated by the discoveries of platinum mines in the Ural Mountains in 1814. Iogan Keibel, who produced numerous objects for the coronation of Nicholas I, was among the earliest goldsmiths in Russia to work in platinum.

The body of the box is made of platinum, while the allover decoration of leaves, flowers, and scrolls is executed in red, yellow, green, pink, and white gold. A medallion in the center of the box's bottom encloses a cluster of flowers carved in four-colored gold, with a floral ornament surrounding it. A platinum medal with the profile of Nicholas I serves as the box's main decoration. It is a copy of a medal that was designed by Vladimir Alekseev (1784-1832) and struck at the St. Petersburg Mint for the coronation of Nicholas I in 1826. The medal is signed and bears an inscription. Acanthus border around the medallion is in pink gold and leaf edge in yellow gold.

Object name:

BOX WITH MEDAL OF NICHOLAS I

Made from:

Gold -- platinum

Made in:

Saint Petersburg, Russia

Date made:

c. 1826

Size:

2.5 × 6.4 × 9.5 cm (1 × 2 1/2 × 3 3/4 in.)

Detailed information for this item

Catalog number:

11.40

Class:

GOLD

Signature marks:

INSCRIPTION B.M. Nikolai I, Imperator i samoderzhets vseross (By the Grace of God Nikolai I Emperor and Autocrat of All Russia) [Around the edge in Cyrillic] A. Lial. Kop. [for Alexander Lialin copied (?)] [On the botton of the profile in Cyrillic]

Credit line:

Bequest of Marjorie Merriweather Post, 1973