Mug thumbnail 1
Mug thumbnail 2
On display
Image of Gallery in South Kensington

Mug

ca. 1924 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

A white porcelain mug with hand painted decoration depicting a procession of workers in the style of post-revolution Russia.

Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Brief description
A porcelain mug with hand-painted decoration depicting post-Revolutionary workmen in red and black, Russian, 20th Century
Physical description
A white porcelain mug with hand painted decoration depicting a procession of workers in the style of post-revolution Russia.
Style
Gallery label
(2021)
The Soviet worker as hero

After the 1917 Revolution, Russia’s Imperial Porcelain Factory, which had almost exlusively served the ruling tsars, was renamed the State Porcelain Factory. In the 1920s, the factory produced many designs that glorified the status of factory workers in society. Here, the plate depicts a seamstress at work with her tools, while the mug shows a procession of labourers. Both use tones of black and red, a distinct palette associated with the Russian art movements Constructivism and Suprematism.

Plate showing a seamstress at work, 1923–24
Designed by Alexander Nikolaevich Samokhvalov
Manufactured by the State Porcelain Factory, Soviet Union (now Russia)
Porcelain painted in enamel colours
Given by Margaret Bulley
Museum no. MISC.2:59-1934

Soviet mug with slogan
‘Shift is coming...’ (translated title), about 1924
Probably designed by Mikhail Mikhailovich Adamovich
Manufactured by the State Porcelain Factory, Soviet Union (now Russia) Porcelain painted in enamel colours
Given by Margaret Bulley
Museum no. MISC.2:60-1934

The object sits in the 'Automation and Labour' section of the Design 1900-Now gallery opened in June 2021.
'26. Mug: Shift is Coming...
Probably designed by Mikhail Mikhailovich Adamovich (Russian, 1884-1947)
Made at the State Porcelain Factory, Leningrad, Russia, decorated about 1924
Porcelain, painted decoration
Bequeathed by Margaret Bulley
Misc.2(60)-1934

This mug uses the limited colours favoured by such vanguard Russian art movements as Suprematism and Constructivism but the herioc workers are conventionally drawn. Red, symbolic of the Revolution, was a colour of huge siginifccance in post-Tsarist Russia.'
Credit line
Given by Mrs Margaret H. Armitage (née Bulley)
Association
Collection
Accession number
MISC.2:60-1934

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Record createdFebruary 1, 2011
Record URL
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