February 21, 19 18 
Land & Water 
17 
English Treasures in Russia : By G. C.Williamson 
View of Northumberland House, London. 
RECENT- terrible events in Russia have caused 
grave apprehensions in the minds of connoisseurs 
respecting the fate that has overtaken the art 
treasures of that vast country. 
It is feared, and with good reason, that mcst of 
the wonderful things have perished in the Revolution, and in 
that case the world is infinitely the poorer. In recent visits 
to that fascinating coun- 
try I have had unusual 
opportunities, owing to 
the gracious kindness of 
the Emperor, of seeing 
the Imperial possessions, 
including those contained 
in private apartments 
seldom opened to the 
foreign visitor, and a few 
notes with reference to 
them may be of interest. 
To take first those 
connected with Eng- 
land. The visitor to the 
Imperial Court may not 
at first remember the 
intimate connection that 
has existed between the 
commerce and a rtistic 
productions of the two 
countries since the days 
of Edward VI. It might 
not occur to him that the 
Emperor Ivan IV. ^ made 
overtures for the hand of Queen Elizabeth and desired to enter 
into a treaty with her, and that the Queen, declining the 
position of Empress for herself, proposed in 1581 that the 
Emperor should marry Lady Mar>' Hastings, daughter of the 
Earl of Huntingdon." This episode would have had far- 
reaching effects but for the f;ict that Lady Mary declined 
the Imperial hand, but from that time Queen Eliziibeth and 
her successors took a keen interest in the Czar of Musavy, 
sent over various missions to his country-, and by the hands 
of these missions sumptuous presents of silver ware. Notable 
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A " Memento Mori" Watch, 
by Quare. 
amongst these missions were these of 1571, 1581, 1604 and 
1620. In consequence Russia contained, especially in the 
Museum in the Krerhlin, but also in the Winter Palace and at 
Gatchina, Livadia, Peterhof, and in the Anitchkcv Palace, 
fine examples of English silver frcm Tudor times downwards, 
as well as specimens from all the important countries of the 
Continent. A Tudor cup of 1557-8 is the eariiest English 
piece and it is one of the so-called font-shaped cups of which 
only about half a dozen are known to exist. Mere wonderful 
perhaps are the five great vase-shaped wine bottles, nearly 
two feet high, called pilgrims' bottles, and mounted with 
chains ; but there are also gourd-shaped cups, steeple cups, 
standing cups, flagons on high feet of unusual size, tankards, 
wine cisterns, salts, tumblers, jugs, candlesticks and dishes, 
all of rare beauty and remarkable value. Perhaps the most 
imposing are a pair of silver leopards with massive chains 
standing a yard high, intended to be placed on the top of t^e 
staircase on either side of the throne. 
All of the vast store of silver, unparalleled in its extent 
by that possessed in any other country, has been catalogued 
in admirable fashion in richly illustrated volumes, privately 
printed, and copies of these books, gifts frcm the Emperor 
himself, are before the writer. 
Not nearly so well knpwn, however, as the silver and very 
seldom inspected by any student is the famous collection of 
mezzotints of unequalled splendour. Acting under the 
wise advice of diaries, ninth Baron Cathcart, the English 
Ambassador to her Court, the Empress Catherine II. placed 
instructions in the eighteenth century with the principal 
print dealers of London that they should send her, as they 
were issued, their finest examples. The commissions v/ere 
carried out, and in a series of solander boxes are the engravings 
still, or were when I examined them, each with its own piece 
of greyish-blue tissue paper on which was very faintly set off 
the outlines of the print.and in many instances with the original 
bills of the English print dealer, showing the very mcderate 
prices charged for the prints in question. The bills, which are 
numerous, have never been folded and are with each parcel. 
They are from Sayer, Doughty, Jones, Hodges, and others, 
and the prints start at los. each and go on up to £5 and £10 
apiece. In one special instance I remember noticing at the 
foot of one of &iyer's invoices a memorandum apologising 
