NATALYA DANKO ‘STUDY’ PORCELAIN INKWELL, LATE 1930S model of 1933 by Natalya Danko (1892-1942) USSR, Leningrad Porcelain Factory (LFZ)

Marks: date ‘24/XII-39’ (on the underside) porcelain, underglaze hand painting H. 15 cm, L. 22.5 cm Condition: overall good condition, missing lid, small crack on the underside Natalya Danko was a sculptor and decorative artist. From 1909 to 1914, she worked in the sculpture workshop of V. V. Kuznetsov, where she participated in creating sculptural works for buildings in St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Kiev. From 1914, she was a sculptor at the Imperial Porcelain Factory (later the State Porcelain Factory, Leningrad Porcelain Factory named after M. V. Lomonosov). From 1919, she headed the factory’s sculpture workshop, and from 1925, she was responsible for the export of artistic porcelain to Europe and America. She was one of the most significant masters of ‘propaganda porcelain’. She created small-scale porcelain sculptures, including individual figures and sculptural groups. The works of Natalya Danko are in the collections of the Tretyakov Gallery, the Russian Museum, the Hermitage. We would like to thank Vladimir Levshenkov, specially invited porcelain expert, for his assistance in cataloguing this lot.