Largest Russian Auction in Scandinavia

Important: read about limited bidding at the auction

Russian Art in Scandinavia

During the 1800s, Russia was amid a rapid transformation – industrialisation was raging, agriculture was being modernized, the infrastructure was expanding and an extensive telegraph system was being established. This created new opportunities for international business relations, and prominent companies such as the Danish Burmeister & Wain, the East Asiatic Company and the Great Northern Telegraph Company opened offices in Russia, where they contributed to the country’s development. A large number of Scandinavians journeyed East to seek their fortune in Russia’s expanding business life and industry. Among the many travellers, a strong fascination with the country’s culture arose that resulted in the creation of Russian art collections of a high quality. This is the reason why so much Russian artwork is located in Scandinavia today, and many of these items have found their way to this auction. The most spectacular of the lots will prior to the auction be exhibited in London at the Danish Embassy during ”The Russian Art Week” on the 1 and 2 June. Please click here to sign up for the event.

Richard Zeiner-Henriksen’s Collection

The highlight of the auction is no doubt the Norwegian commercial attaché Richard Zeiner-Henriksen’s (1878-1965) Russian collection. We present the collection in collaboration with Blomqvist in Oslo, and it will be sold in two parts within the same period – one auction with us, and another auction with the Norwegian auction house. Zeiner-Henriksen lived in Russia during the first half of the 1900s and worked for both the oil company Nobel Brothers and the Norwegian General Consulate. In 1922, Zeiner-Henriksen and his family moved into an apartment in the Saltykov Palace, which at the end of the 1700s had been owned by Tsaritsa Catherine the Great and was later used by the Saltykov noble family. It was in these stately surroundings that the couple Richard and Erica Zeiner-Henriksen began collecting art and antiques.

Their collection of icons, princely portraits, furniture, porcelain, silver and glass represents a large part of Russian history from Ivan IV the Terrible in the 1500s over Tsaritsa Catherine II the Great in the 1700s to the last Russian Tsar, Nicholas II, in the early 1900s. The collection consists of 81 auction lots. Among the highlights are seven early church icons, including two large icons from the 1500s with a depiction of the Archangel Saint Mikhail and Christ’s descent from the cross respectively. Besides the icons, we can also present a portrait of Tsar Paul I of Russia from the second half of the 1700s and a "Bergère à Oreilles" in flamed birch wood from the first half of the 1800s. All the items from Richard Zeiner-Henriksen’s collection are marked with his monogram in the catalogue.

Other Russian Private Collections

The auction also includes items from other private Russian collections, some of which have royal provenances. This includes four shirt buttons made by the jeweller Friedrich Koechli, which the Tsaritsa Maria Feodorovna of Russia gave to her nephew Prince Harald of Denmark. The Tsaritsa was the daughter of the Danish royal couple Christian IX and Queen Louise. The Tsaritsa herself was married to Tsar Alexander III of Russia. She came to play a very important part in the Danish-Russian connections, for instance through her support of Danish businesses. When speaking of the essence of the Russian cultural inheritance, one of the auction’s kovshi clearly deserves to be highlighted here as well. It was produced in parcel-gilt silver in Moscow in the late 1600s and was given as a gift from Peter I the Great and Ivan V to the customs officer Grigory Shtchepetov. Among the other highlights of the auction, we find an Order of St. Alexander Nevsky, which was awarded to the Russian General Konstantin Klavdievich Maximovich in 1913, as well as the artist Alexei Kondratevich Savrasov’s depiction of nomads from 1852. Last but not least, we can present two beautiful Russian Louis XVI crystal chandeliers from the late 1700s, which were consigned by Ambassador John L. Loeb Jr from New York, former ambassador to Denmark in 1981-83.

Welcome to this unique journey through Russia’s rich cultural inheritance.

International Auction 872

International auction 872: Friday, 9 June at 2 pm in Bredgade 33, Copenhagen

Preview: 24-29 May at the same address

On Friday, 26 May at 2 pm, Martin Hans Borg, expert in Russian art, will give a gallery talk entitled “Zeiner-Henriksen’s Russian Collection – 500 years of history form Ivan Iv the Terrible to Nikolai II”. The talk will be held in Danish, but everyone is welcome.

View all the lots with Russian art at the international auction

Read Richard Zeiner-Henriksen's biography

Read more about the international auction

Read about bidding

Online Auction 1724

Online auction 1724: Monday, 12 June from 5 pm

Preview: 3-12 June in Sundkrogsgade 30 in Copenhagen and on Søren Frichsvej 34D in Aarhus

View all the lots with Russian art on the online auction