[RUSSIAN-FRENCH FRIENDSHIP] Large full-leather Russian Imperial folder with photographs [Russia, 1890s]

Folder’s size - 47x33 cm. Comprises 8 photographs (silver-gelatin prints) on Passepartout. Without annotation. Large brown leather folder, the top cover has the coat of arms of the Russian Empire embossed in gold and a fine geometric border along the edge. Composite moiré fronts, gilt-embossed ornamented duplicates. Triple-sided gilt edge. The photographs show the jasper vase from various perspectives, as well as its elements: the bronze handles, the coat of arms of Paris, the double-headed eagle, the coat of arms of Kronstadt and Toulon. The vase is located in the City Hall in Paris and is 292 cm high. The history of this vase in Paris is as follows. At the end of the 19th century, France sought an alliance with Russia, and in 1891 a French squadron arrived in Kronstadt to establish relations. Emperor Alexander III himself welcomed it. In 1893, a Russian squadron arrived in Toulon on a reciprocal visit. As a sign of the unbreakable Russian-French friendship, Alexander III presented the city of Paris in 1895 with a jasper vase made at the Kolyvan grinding factory.