“People of Russia” was a series of 74 large porcelain figures, created by Pavel Kamensky 1907–1917, representing various nationalities of Russian at that time.

Provenance: The Dane Alfred Schønebeck (b. Varde 1885, d. Copenhagen 1931) was employed at the Great Northern Telegraph Company in 1903. He then followed a Danish tradition of working in Russia, when the Great Northern Telegraph Company already from the 1860s had a concession agreement with Russia. Thus, Alfred Schønebeck was stationed as a telegraphist from 1904 in Libau in Latvia, later in Kiachta in Siberia north of the Mongolian border and finally in Irkutsk near the Baikal Lake. From 1914 he was stationed in Gothenburg, Sweden, the same year he was married to the Swedish­born Gerda Schønebeck, née Rydemann (b. Tannåker 1886, d. Copenhagen 1980). In 1918, Alfred Schønebeck was promoted to office assistant at the head office in Copenhagen and in 1920 to senior clerk. The same year, he met with Maksim Litvinov, the Soviet Union's travelling ambassador, in Oslo to discuss the continued tasks of the Great Northern Telegraph Company in the former Russian Empire.

In 1921 he became the company’s new representative in Russia and moved to St. Petersburg. In 1923, the representation was moved to Moscow, which was not completely unknown to him, when he – while living in St. Petersburg – had already made several business trip to Moscow. The Great Northern Telegraph Company was the first foreign company with a representation in Moscow. His wife arrived in Moscow shortly after, where she now lived with her husband. He still visited St. Petersburg now and then on business trips, accompanied by his wife. He worked hard to maintain the position of the Great Northern Telegraph Company in Russia. In 1925, Alfred Schønebeck was, moreover, in a diplomatic way involved in a case concerning Tsaritsa Maria Feodorovna of Russia’s diary from 1916. The diary was now privately owned in Russia due to the revolution in 1917. The owner of course tried to blackmail both the exiled Tsaritsa and other members of the Danish Royal Family – threatening to publish the diary.

While living in Russia, Alfred Schønebeck, but in particular his wife, went extensively to flea markets and auctions in Moscow and St. Petersburg, where they acquired Russian art and antiques.

In 1929 Alfred Schønebeck was promoted to office manager at the head office in Copenhagen, and the couple moved to Denmark, bringing their Russian art and antiques with them. Alfred Schønebeck died already in 1931, while Gerda Schønebeck died almost 50 years later, 96 years old. She enjoyed telling her children and grandchildren about her life in Russia and the art and antiques she and her husband had acquired, among others in Tsarskoye Selo, St. Petersburg or in Moscow. Thence by descents until today.