Tea Strainer (1887–96): Art, History and Details

Tea Strainer (1887–96) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Feodor Ivanovich Rückert (Russian, 1840–1917); House of Fabergé (Russian, 1842–1918).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Fabergé’s craftsmen in Moscow, especially under the watchful eye of workmaster Feodor Rückert, became known for their work in the pan-Slavic or neo-Russian style, hearkening back to 17th-century motifs of Russian folk art. Often on rather conventional shapes, Rückert and his silversmiths created an explosion of color, achieved through the historic technique of cloisonné enamel in which tiny metal lines are soldered to the surface then filled with glass powders in various colors and fired to create a high gloss finish. The result is a spectacular evocation of the 17th-century originals. Far from mere copies, however, Rückert's designs, such as this tea service, employ naturalistic or abstract motifs in a thoroughly modern adaptation of a remarkable earlier period of Russian art and decoration.

Object facts

• Title: Tea Strainer
• Date: 1887–96
• Creator attribution: Feodor Ivanovich Rückert (Russian, 1840–1917); House of Fabergé (Russian, 1842–1918)
• Culture: Russia, St. Petersburg
• Type: Miscellaneous
• Technique: silver gilt, opaque cloisonné enamel
• Dimensions: Overall: 17.2 x 5.9 cm (6 3/4 x 2 5/16 in.)
• Collection: Decorative Arts
• Department: Decorative Art and Design
• Accession number: 1966.500.8

A detail from the museum

This tea strainer is part of a larger tea service.

Collection credit

The India Early Minshall Collection

Further reading listed by the museum

• Hawley, Henry H. Fabergé and His Contemporaries: The India Early Minshall Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1967.
• Harrison, Stephen, Emmanuel Ducamp, and Jeannine J. Falino. Artistic Luxury: Fabergé Tiffany Lalique. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.