Neoclassicism - Poland and Russia

Poland
In most countries, handmade furniture made on country estates has an honest but naive flavour. In Poland, estate-made pieces reached a remarkable degree of sophistication. Bureaux, commodes and sideboards were among the many things veneered in walnut, with wide cross banding dividing the ground in rectangular panels which in turn are decorated with neat floral marquetry. It is known collectively as Kolbuszowa work, after one of the estates near Rzeszow in Southern Poland where it was made.
Stanislaus II became king in 1764, thanks to the influence of Catherine II of Russia whole lover he had been. A romantic, well-meaning, if somewhat ineffective ruler, he was an enthusiastic art collector who encouraged fine craftsmanship. Warsaw became a major centre for furniture production and a number of workmen were brought from the Roentgen establishment at Neuwied, among them Andreas Simmler who founded a family firm which was later to become renowned. Warsaw produced two-drawer commodes of rather chunky form but elegance is present in more feminine pieces such as the bonheur-du-jour on tapering legs, the panels of the superstructure having painted flowers within rosewood cross banding. Production during the years 1780 - 1796 was considerable but the partitioning of the country in 1772, 1793 and 1795 between Austria, Prussia and Russia virtualy eliminated Poland as a sovereign state.

Russia
During the long reign (1762 - 1796) of Catherine II ('the Great'), French and English fashions were introduced both directly and indirectly into Russia. The French architect Vallin de Mothe was Director of Fine Arts in St Petersburg, while the Scot, Charles Cameron, designed palace interiors with Pompeiian decor in the manner of his countryman Robert Adam but also with personal knowledge of the classical world gained in Italy.

Catherine herself imported furniture from other Paris makers as well as many pieces sold to her by David Roentgen. Many of these pieces were then copied using reproduction furniture techniques by Russian craftsmen with varying fidelity to the originals. Sometimes the design, if too complex, was simplified; sometimes, if too austere for Russian taste, it was embellished with ornamentation that would have been thought excessive in whichever country the design had originated.

Commodes of serpentine shape, basically in the English manner, were raised on high legs, armoured with heavy bronze mounts and fitted with a superstructure in the form of a small cabinet derived from German models. As in Poland, a considerable quantity of fitted and non fitted furniture was produced on country estates. Ostankino near Moscow and Okhta near St Petersburg were two of the more important centres where furniture was made not only for the use of the landowner but also for sale. The majority of pieces made for middle-class homes were heavy in appearance, sporting various Neoclassical details of ornament but lacking any kind of grace.

Originally founded as a small arms factory by Peter the Great, the Tula Ironworks in central Russia had in part been taken over c.1725, for making steel furniture, fireplaces and ornaments. In Catherine's time, armchairs on X-shaped supports and occasional tables were among the items produced in cut steel with elaborate fretting patterns inlaid with copper, pewter and sometimes even silver.