Sofya Borisovna Velikhova (1904–1994) was a porcelain sculptor who modelled small figures for the Lomonosov Porcelain Factory, Leningrad (LFZ), where she worked from 1948 to 1964. The Don Auction House catalogue holds 6 works made after her models: factory-produced small sculpture with painted decoration, some pieces with gilding and lustre. Estimates for these pieces: from 6 000 to 10 000 ₽. Below are the facts about the artist and about what the catalogue actually contains.
Sofya Borisovna Velikhova (also recorded as Baskakova) was born in 1904 in the village of Kolodets, Yelets district (uyezd), Oryol Governorate, and died in 1994 in St Petersburg. From 1923 to 1926 she studied at the Leningrad College of Art and Industry, qualifying as an applied sculptor, and from 1926 to 1930 in the sculpture department of VKhUTEIN in Leningrad under Robert Bach and Alexander Matveyev. In 1945 she received the Medal for Valiant Labour. From 1948 to 1964 she worked as a sculptor at the Lomonosov Porcelain Factory, Leningrad (LFZ); these details come from her author record at the State Russian Museum. A substantial part of her models went into mass production at the factory, her recurring subjects being childhood and youth, the friendship of peoples, sport, and literary and fairy-tale characters.
The Don Auction House catalogue holds 6 works, all of them in the decorative and applied art section: genre and national small sculpture after her models. Every piece is porcelain from the Leningrad factory, painted, with gilding and lustre on some of them. All of it is serially produced factory sculpture: Velikhova is the author of the model, while the figures themselves were cast and painted at the factory in editions, so the accurate wording is “after a model by S. B. Velikhova”. The year a model was created and the year a particular figure was made are different things: the date of an individual piece is established from the factory mark on the base. Each entry gives the technique, dimensions and date, and the current selection of lots is shown in the catalogue. Her serial models recorded in factory and gallery catalogues include “The Accordion Player (Vasily Tyorkin the Soldier)”, “At the Skating Rink”, “Uzbek with a Tambourine” and the figures of the Yakuts series.
Velikhova’s best known work is the Yakuts series of three figures: “Yakut Woman with a Sturgeon”, “Yakut Boy with a Dog” (also recorded as “Friendship”) and “Yakut Woman with a Flower”, the model listed in the State Russian Museum as “Yakut Girl with a Flower” (“Northern Flower”). The factory dates the series to 1954 while the museum dates its own example to 1952, and the year of a model is in any case not the year a figure was made. The series stayed in the factory range longer than the rest of her genre sculpture, and “Yakut Woman with a Flower” is still produced by the Imperial Porcelain Factory, the successor of LFZ. “At the Skating Rink” belongs to her sporting subjects: works by Velikhova entered the museum’s exhibition “Sport in Soviet Porcelain, Graphic Art and Sculpture” (Benois Wing, 25 April – 30 July 2018), whose catalogue essay by N. Shchetinina names her among the authors of the factory’s most popular sporting models. “Uzbek with a Tambourine” is a pair to the figure “Uzbek Woman”, and the release of both is linked to the 6th World Festival of Youth and Students in Moscow (1957).
Of the models found in our catalogue only one is also held by a museum: “Yakut Woman with a Flower”, our piece being another cast of the same serial model as “Yakut Girl with a Flower” (“Northern Flower”) at the State Russian Museum, which also holds the group “The First Waltz”. Museum holdings and exhibitions otherwise relate to the artist rather than to these particular lots. Her models are documented in the reference volume by N. S. Petrova, “The Lomonosov Porcelain Factory in Leningrad. 1944–2004” (St Petersburg, 2007). The Don Auction House is based in Rostov-on-Don and holds online sales: forthcoming and past sales are listed under auctions, registration and bidding are explained under how to buy, and consignment terms under how to sell. Porcelain and related pieces are gathered in the decorative and applied art section, the full list of artists is under artists, and every lot is in the general catalogue.
How many works by Sofya Velikhova are in the Don Auction House catalogue?
The catalogue holds 6 works after Velikhova’s models, all in the decorative and applied art section: porcelain from the Leningrad factory, painted, with gilding and lustre on some pieces. Estimates for these pieces: from 6 000 to 10 000 ₽. The selection offered at any given sale varies, so check the current catalogue and the auction schedule.
Are these unique sculptures or serially produced porcelain?
Serially produced factory sculpture: Velikhova is the author of the model, and the casting and painting were done at the Leningrad Porcelain Factory in editions. An edition does not make a piece a copy: every figure has its own factory mark, its own quality of painting and its own condition, and these are what set the estimate and the spread of prices for one and the same model.
What is the Yakuts series?
A series of three figures: “Yakut Woman with a Sturgeon”, “Yakut Boy with a Dog” (“Friendship”) and “Yakut Woman with a Flower” (listed in the Russian Museum as “Yakut Girl with a Flower”). The factory dates the models of the series to 1954, while the museum dates its own example to 1952. Models from the series appear in our catalogue, and “Yakut Woman with a Flower” is still produced by the Imperial Porcelain Factory, the successor of LFZ.
How can the year of manufacture of a particular figure be established?
From the factory mark on the base, which is what dates an individual piece. The year a model was created and the year a piece was made are different things: the factory gives 1954 as the year the model “Yakut Woman with a Flower” was created (the Russian Museum dates its own “Yakut Girl with a Flower” to 1952), and it is still in production.
Are works after Velikhova’s models held in museums?
Yes: the State Russian Museum holds “Yakut Girl with a Flower” (“Northern Flower”) and the group “The First Waltz”, and works by the artist were included in the museum’s exhibition “Sport in Soviet Porcelain, Graphic Art and Sculpture” (2018). Our pieces are other casts of serial models, so museum and exhibition records relate to the artist rather than to these lots.
How do I buy a figure after a model by Velikhova, or consign one?
The pieces are sold through the auction house’s online sales. Registration and bidding are described under how to buy, and forthcoming and past sales are listed under auctions. If you own porcelain after Velikhova’s models and wish to sell it, start with how to sell: for a preliminary estimate we will need photographs of the piece, including the mark on the base.
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