KONDAKOV, Nikodim Pavlovich (1844-1925)

Lot 189
14.12.2022 10:30UTC +00:00
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£ 18 900
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 870785
Lot 189 | KONDAKOV, Nikodim Pavlovich (1844-1925)
Estimate value
£ 15 000 – 20 000
KONDAKOV, Nikodim Pavlovich (1844-1925)

Geschichte und Denkmäler des Byzantinischen Emails. [Istoriia i pamiatniki Vizantiiskoi emali.] Frankfurt: A. Osterrieth, 1892.

First edition of 'one of the most luxurious publications of the 19th century' (RGB). The book details the outstanding collection of 10th- and 11th-century Byzantine enamels assembled by A.W. Zvenigorodskoi, with the text written by the art historian N.P. Kondakov. The book was published in an edition of 600 only, with 200 copies each in Russian, French and German; the present lot is number 179 of the German edition. 'One of the greatest bibliographic rarities'; 'this book is undoubtedly a masterpiece of the Russian printing industry. It has no equals either in terms of workmanship or in terms of the funds involved (it cost 120,000 roubles in gold by the exchange rate for 1892' (Vengerov). After Zvenigorodskoi's death J.P. Morgan bought his spectacular collection, which is now housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Fekula 6705 ('magnificent'); Rossiiskaia Gosudarstvennaia Biblioteka, Moscow, 2006, pp.200-1; Russkie Knizhnye Redkosti, I, p.69; Vengerov, Staraia Russkaia Kniga, 77.



Quarto (359 x 274mm). Text in German, chromolithographic dedication with patterned silver foil background, portrait frontispiece on india, chromolithographic additional title, title printed in red within chromolithographic border, chromolithographic divisional titles, initials and tail-pieces, 31 chromolithographic plates (very faint offsetting from additional title onto portrait frontispiece, otherwise fine and clean throughout). Original morocco, sides and spine blocked and richly gilt, edges printed in various colours, original printed endpapers; original brocade dust-jacket [parchovaia superoblozhka] (without the silk place-mark [zakladka], dust-jacket lining with some wear, binding with only the faintest rubbing to extremities; sold without the original case). Provenance: a European Royal Collection.





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