Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts

More than 400 Cypriot items (vessels of the late 3rd to 1st millennium BC, many terracottas, several stone sculptures); described as the largest Cypriot collection in Russia (2005)

Karageorghis & Bukina 2005

1. 1870
   Russian consul Yusefovich is said to have excavated tombs near the temple at Golgoi-Agios Photos in the same year as Cesnola; he later sold a collection of several hundred Cypriot items to Count Alexei Uvarov (which reached the Pushkin Museum and the State Historical Museum through the 1927 transfer). No findspot data survive for the objects.

   GolgoiRussian consul YusefovichCount Alexei Sergeevich UvarovKarageorghis & Bukina 2005

2. 27 April 1877
   Count Uvarov presented his Cypriot antiquities, bought in the 1870s from the consul Yusefovich, to the Moscow Archaeological Society; the catalogue calls the resulting publication (Uvarov 1880) probably the first mention of Cypriot antiquities in Russian literature.

   Count Alexei Sergeevich UvarovKarageorghis & Bukina 2005

3. 1911
   First Cypriot pieces entered the Moscow Museum of Fine Arts as part of the collection of the Egyptologist Vladimir Golenishchev; the catalogue says mode (purchase/gift) is not stated and that no data exist on when or where he bought or found them. Includes funerary relief P 50, head of a youth P 52, terracotta warrior head P 19 and syllabic epitaph P 56 (the last bought in Cairo).

   Vladimir Semyonovich GolenishchevKarageorghis & Bukina 2005

4. 1918
   Ring vase P 6 acquired from L. A. Visheslavskaya, from Athens.

   L. A. VisheslavskayaKarageorghis & Bukina 2005

5. 1919
   Donations from other collections began to enlarge the museum's holdings, among them the Stroganov Industrial Art School (1919); the Classical East Institute Museum (set up 1918, its collections passed on; the Institute closed in 1924 with over 4000 exhibits) was the largest source of Cypriot material.

   Karageorghis & Bukina 2005

6. 1920–1935
   Further donations from the International Museum of Art (1930-1935) and items from the former K. Soldatenkov collection (1920-1930) are listed among sources of the enlarged museum collection; the catalogue's text is partly split across a page break.

   K. SoldatenkovKarageorghis & Bukina 2005

7. 1924
   Collection of the Classical East Institute Museum, e.g. goblet P 1 (Red Polished I) and bull figurine P 46, listed under 1924 in the provenance index; other Classical East Institution items are dated 1920-1930 in the history.

   Karageorghis & Bukina 2005

8. 1927
   After the Revolution the Counts Uvarov's collections at Porechye were nationalised and brought to Moscow; in 1927 they were added to the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts and the Historical Museum. Most of the Pushkin's Cypriot antiquities come from this source; the index states all Pushkin objects are Uvarov unless listed otherwise.

   Count Alexei Sergeevich UvarovKarageorghis & Bukina 2005

9. 1927
   Maria M. Kobyilina published an article in the museum bulletin Museum Life on the best vases and terracottas of the Uvarov collection.

   Maria M. KobyilinaKarageorghis & Bukina 2005

10. 1929
    Head of a youth P 51 (limestone, early 5th c. BC) came via the Museum of Icon Painting and Art, formerly the Igor Ostroukhov collection; the index says it was bought in Paris.

    Igor OstroukhovKarageorghis & Bukina 2005

11. 1930
    N. A. Shcherbakov published in Museum Life the head of a youth P 51 and the terracotta warrior head P 19 (Golenishchev collection).

    Nikolay A. ShcherbakovKarageorghis & Bukina 2005

12. 1960–1979
    The museum was presented with a considerable number of vases by leaders, delegations and public figures from the Republic of Cyprus.

    Karageorghis & Bukina 2005

13. 1965
    Jug of Red Polished III ware P 3 came from the Museums of the Moscow Kremlin.

    Karageorghis & Bukina 2005

14. 1966
    Yuri Savelyev published an article on ancient Cypriot sculpture in the collection and completed in the 1960s a full catalogue of almost 400 Cypriot exhibits with an introductory outline of Cypriot art; as of 2005 the catalogue remained unpublished.

    Yuri SavelyevKarageorghis & Bukina 2005

15. 1985
    P. K. Ermoshin, former Soviet Ambassador to Cyprus, gave a large part of his private Cypriot collection (catalogue items include jug P 14, skyphos P 15, cymbal player P 26, figurines P 33-34).

    Pavel Konstantinovich ErmoshinKarageorghis & Bukina 2005

16. 1987
    Akimova et al. 1987, an earlier Russian-language publication, is cited in the 2005 catalogue entries for P 19, P 50 and P 51.

    Karageorghis & Bukina 2005

17. 1998
    Karageorghis reported he had twice visited the Pushkin Museum and the Hermitage, studied the Cypriot objects, and that a catalogue had been prepared, to be published with the curators of both museums.

    Vassos KarageorghisKarageorghis 1998

18. 2005
    Ancient Cypriote Art in Russian Museums (Karageorghis with Bukina, Collon, Diukov, Isaenko, Kunina, Neverov, Savelyev, Tugusheva, Zhuravlev) published by the A. G. Leventis Foundation with the three museums; 58 Pushkin objects catalogued (P 1-P 58). Entries by Karageorghis, seals by Dominique Collon; history chapter by Olga Tugusheva; Leventis covered the major part of production cost, INSTAP also supported.

    Vassos KarageorghisOlga TugushevaDominique CollonKarageorghis & Bukina 2005

19. 2014
    Akimova, Kalinichev, Samar and Smolenkova published The art of ancient Cyprus in the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts (2 vols, Moscow); cited in other bibliographies, not seen.

    Merrillees 2017

• Funerary relief with reclining man, woman and lion

  I 2a 4 (cat. P 50)via Vladimir Semyonovich Golenishchev1911Karageorghis & Bukina 2005

• Head of a youth wearing a wreath, limestone, early 5th c. BC

  II 1a 631 (cat. P 51)via Igor Ostroukhov1929Karageorghis & Bukina 2005

• Small head of a youth with wreath, early 5th c. BC

  I 1a 2661 (cat. P 52)via Vladimir Semyonovich Golenishchev1911Karageorghis & Bukina 2005

• Terracotta head of a beardless male in conical helmet, Idalion style, end 7th c. BC

  I 1a 2708 (cat. P 19)via Vladimir Semyonovich Golenishchev1911Karageorghis & Bukina 2005

• Inscribed limestone plaque, Cypriot syllabary epitaph of a Salaminian

  I 1b 1672 (cat. P 56)from Salamis (per inscription's content; the plaque was bought in Cairo)via Vladimir Semyonovich Golenishchev1880–1899Karageorghis & Bukina 2005

• Zoomorphic vase of Red Slip ware, Middle Cypriote II-III

  I 1a 6333 (cat. P 5)via Count Alexei Sergeevich Uvarov1927Karageorghis & Bukina 2005

• Ring vase of White Painted III-V, string-hole style

  II 1b 47 (cat. P 6)via L. A. Visheslavskaya1918Karageorghis & Bukina 2005

• Jug of Red Polished III ware

  II 1b 1346 (cat. P 3)1965Karageorghis & Bukina 2005

• Female figurine of cymbal player

  II 1a 1057 (cat. P 26)via Pavel Konstantinovich Ermoshin1985Karageorghis & Bukina 2005

• Goblet of Red Polished I ware

  I 1a 234 (cat. P 1)1924Karageorghis & Bukina 2005