State Hermitage Museum

a small Cypriot collection formed from 1870 to 1981, with 12 pottery vessels, terracottas, limestone sculpture, glass, gems, jewellery and coins catalogued in 2005; 'there is nothing of extraordinary importance (there are very few stone sculptures and almost no bronzes or jewellery)' in the three Russian collections, in Karageorghis's words, though representative of Bronze and Iron Age Cyprus (2005)

Karageorghis & Bukina 2005, p. 93Karageorghis & Bukina 2005, p. viii

1. 2 January 1870
   Luigi Palma di Cesnola wrote in French to Hermitage director S. A. Gedeonov, enclosing photographs and offering part of his collection; he cited his post as Russian consul and claimed that London and Berlin (Masson) or London and Paris (Marangou) had already bought vase collections. Masson notes the letter shows it was not the first.

   LarnacaLuigi Palma di CesnolaStepan Alexandrovich GedeonovMasson 1992, p. 139Marangou 2000, p. 215

2. 1870
   Gedeonov, urged by the Keeper L. Stephani, was authorised to spend 6,000 francs (about 1,200) on three painted vases, two heads, two limestone statues and two terracotta idols from Cesnola.

   Stepan Alexandrovich GedeonovLudolf StephaniLuigi Palma di CesnolaKarageorghis & Bukina 2005, pp. vii-viiiMarangou 2000, p. 215

3. June 1870
   Johannes Doell, assistant keeper, sent as the Hermitage agent to Cyprus to buy and catalogue the Cesnola collection; he stayed in Cesnola's house in Larnaca and finished the Golgoi catalogue on 15 August 1870. Marangou gives June 1870 as his arrival and four months as his term.

   LarnacaJohannes DoellLuigi Palma di CesnolaMarangou 2000, p. 219Masson 1992, pp. 143-144Karageorghis & Bukina 2005, p. 93

4. August 1870
   Cesnola set conditions of sale: 80,000 silver roubles for the whole collection, 68,000 for Golgoi, the name 'Cesnola Collection' kept forever. The transaction was then blocked: Bukina says Emperor Alexander II directly forbade it; Masson says the Hermitage renounced about September 1870, apparently because the collection was too large and could not be bought in part; Karageorghis says the offer was withdrawn and the Russians asked for good pieces for 3,000 roubles.

   Luigi Palma di CesnolaAlexander IILudolf StephaniMarangou 2000, p. 221Karageorghis & Bukina 2005, p. 93Masson 1992, p. 146Karageorghis & Bukina 2005, pp. vii-viii

5. August 1870
   Severin Tsybulsky, a Russian subject living in Alexandria, donated about fifty small pieces he had bought in Cyprus for the Hermitage; Demetrios Pierides catalogued them in Larnaca. Includes a Red Polished III juglet (B 1869, 'said to be from Kition') and the terracotta female head, 'the jewel of the collection'.

   LarnacaSeverin TsybulskyDemetrios PieridesKarageorghis & Bukina 2005, p. 93Karageorghis & Bukina 2005

6. 1873
   Doell published Die Sammlung Cesnola in the Memoires of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, St Petersburg, after reading a communication on 12 December 1872: the first illustrated description of the Cesnola collection, 17 plates. The collection itself went to New York.

   Johannes DoellKarageorghis & Bukina 2005, pp. vii-viiiKarageorghis & Bukina 2005, p. 93

7. 1887
   Gold finger-ring H 55 (Oriental Department 6652) came from the Golitzin family collection, Moscow, which had it from Mr Beugniot, who said it was found in Cyprus; the catalogue does not say whether purchase or gift.

   Mr. BeugniotKarageorghis & Bukina 2005Karageorghis & Bukina 2005, p. 94

8. 1893
   Keeper G. von Kieseritzky bought Cypro-Archaic limestone and terracotta figurines and a painted vase from the sponge merchant Georgos Koutsourakis, who said they were found 'in the islands of Cnidos, Calymnos and in other sites of Asia Minor'.

   G. von KieseritzkyGeorgos KoutsourakisKarageorghis & Bukina 2005, pp. 93-94

9. 1904
   Bichrome IV jug H 12 (B 3147, Cypro-Archaic I) acquired in Nikolajev; a painted flask (GR-11305) from the Levitsky collection entered in the same year.

   LevitskyKarageorghis & Bukina 2005, p. 94Karageorghis & Bukina 2005

10. 1917
    Base-ring II askos with bull's-head spout (H 8) acquired from a Mr Khmeliovsky.

    KhmeliovskyKarageorghis & Bukina 2005, p. 94

11. 1926
    Nationalised Stroganoff collection supplied a Roman painted glass pyxis (H 56, E 1218) and a terracotta head.

    Karageorghis & Bukina 2005, p. 94Karageorghis & Bukina 2005

12. 1929
    Limestone statuette of a mother with child (H 42, A 995, late 6th to early 5th century BC) came from the late Alexander Prokhorov's collection at Schlusselburg.

    Alexander ProkhorovKarageorghis & Bukina 2005, p. 94Karageorghis & Bukina 2005

13. 1931
    The Cypriot collection of the Russian Archaeological Institute at Constantinople (active 1895-1920) was sent to the Hermitage: Archaic terracotta figurines and over forty pottery vessels from the Early Bronze Age to the Roman period. Bukina says the archives were lost and Cypriot origin is inferred.

    Karageorghis & Bukina 2005, p. 94

14. 1970
    Exhibition 'The Treasures of Cyprus' at the Hermitage, the first in the USSR of masterpieces from Cypriot museums; the Cypriot government and President Archbishop Makarios donated two large painted amphorae, one Geometric and one Archaic.

    Archbishop Makarios IIIKarageorghis & Bukina 2005, p. 94

15. 1981
    Ministry of Culture of the USSR deposited a gift from the Pierides Foundation, Larnaca: a Bichrome painted plate (GR-28197, diameter 40 cm) found at Ayia Irini. The online record credits 'Mr. Pierides, Cyprus'.

    Mr. PieridesKarageorghis & Bukina 2005, p. 94Museum

16. 1998
    Karageorghis reported a catalogue of the Hermitage and Pushkin Cypriot objects prepared with the curators, awaiting publication.

    Vassos KarageorghisKarageorghis 1998, p. 119

17. 2005
    Ancient Cypriote Art in Russian Museums (Leventis Foundation, with INSTAP support) published, covering the State Historical Museum, the Pushkin Museum and the Hermitage; Hermitage entries by Bukina, Diukov, Karageorghis, Kunina and Neverov.

    Vassos KarageorghisAnastasia BukinaYury DiukovNina KuninaOleg NeverovKarageorghis & Bukina 2005, p. viiiKarageorghis & Bukina 2005, p. 94

• Red Polished III juglet

  B 1869from Kition (said)via Severin Tsybulsky1870Karageorghis & Bukina 2005

• Red Slip jug (Middle Cypriote III)

  B 3163via VirubovKarageorghis & Bukina 2005

• Bichrome IV jug with lotus-and-bird frieze and a draped female figure, Cypro-Archaic I

  B 31471904Karageorghis & Bukina 2005Dissinger 2017, p. 125

• Limestone statuette of mother with child

  A 995via Alexander Prokhorov1929Karageorghis & Bukina 2005

• Gold finger-ring with lion hunt, Cypro-Phoenician

  Oriental Department 6652via Golitzin family1887Karageorghis & Bukina 2005

• Painted glass pyxis with Eros on the lid

  E 1218via Stroganov family (Stroganoff collection)1926Karageorghis & Bukina 2005

• Bichrome plate

  GR-28197from Ayia Irinivia Mr. Pierides1981Museum