Russian silver trompe loeil box. Gerasim Loskutov. Russia. Moscow 1886.

Russian silver trompe loeil box of the late 19th century. The rounded rectangular hinged lid with engraving and reposse imitates a draped blanket with fringe on top of a basket-weave box. Articulated side handles and center hinged clasp (no flange), on four square bracket legs with gold plated interior. Hallmarks: master “GL” Gerasim Loskutov, hallmark of the Moscow Shaved Directorate: 84 samples; coat of arms of the city of Moscow “St. George the Victorious”; initials of assay master Viktor Vasilyevich Savinsky “VS” above the date 1886. Dimensions: 14 x 10.5 cm. Weight: 413 g

Gerasim Loskutov - master chaser, engraver, from a peasant background. He worked at the Moscow factory of the Sazikovs in the 1860-1870s. At an exhibition in Moscow in 1865, he was awarded a “silver medal “For useful things” to be worn on the chest on a Stanislav ribbon.” The master’s work, the silver high relief “Adoration of the Shepherds,” was noted by all experts at the 1867 Paris World Exhibition as one of the best works. At an exhibition in 1870 in St. Petersburg, he was awarded a gold medal “For Useful” to be worn on the Stanislav ribbon. Since the early 1880s. had his own workshop and carried out orders for the company I.P. Khlebnikov, which after his death in 1881 was owned and managed by his three sons.