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pair of 'royal gates'

Description
The gates are formed as a pair of long vertical doors hinged at the sides and opening outward. Each is pierced and embossed with a pattern of parcel-gilt flowers, scrolls, and birds, with three oval medallions arranged vertically at equal intervals. The upper medallion panel on the left gate represents the Annunciation and that on the right the Entry of Christ into Jerusalem; those below represent the evangelists Matthew (centre left), John (centre right), Mark (lower left), and Luke (lower right). Each medallion is contained within a scroll-, flower-and-shellwork cartouche.

The upper border of each door is of irregular scroll profile, rising toward the centre. The central column is attached to the right door and is of nearly semicircular section, with pierced scrolls and flowers applied to the upper and lower ends and the centre; a spiral pattern of flowers is embossed along its length. The centre is engraved with an oval medallion of Christ as the Great Bishop. Rosettes are applied at intervals to the plain side borders of the gates. The lower border of each door is flat-chased with a lengthy Cyrillic inscription in Old Church Slavonic:

These gates in the Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God were made during the reign of the very Orthodox Sovereign Empress Ekaterina Alexeievna and her heir the Orthodox Sovereign Tsesarevich Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich and his spouse the Orthodox Lady Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna and the Orthodox Lords Grand Dukes Alexander Pavlovich and Konstantin Pavlovich and the Orthodox Lady Grand Duchess Alexandra Pavlovna, with the blessings of the Lord Archimandrite Father Zosim Valkevich of the Pechersk Lavra of Kiev and with the dedicated efforts of the Keeper of the same Pechera, the Elder of the Cathedral, Hieromonach Vitalii, 1784, the eleventh day of March. The weight in silver [is] two pouds, six lots. Sixty-six foreign chervonets [gold pieces of Dutch, Italian, or Austrian origin] were used for gilding.

Construction
Each door is made entirely from two embossed sheets joined by screws beneath the central medallion and screwed to two vertical iron bars that run the full height of the gates. As a preliminary to working the decorative design, the goldsmith outlined the pattern to be embossed in pricked dots, which are still clearly visible on the reverse.

Commentary
The empress mentioned in the inscription is Catherine II, the "Great," the German princess who ruled Russia from 1762 to 1796, after the death of her husband, Czar Peter III. Her son Paul I, who ascended the throne after her death, is identified in the inscription as "Tsesarevich [heir to the throne] Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich." His wife, here called Maria Feodorovna, was born Dorothea Sofia Augusta, princess of Württemberg. The other lords and lady are their sons and daughter. Alexander Pavlovich succeeded to the throne at the age of twenty-four, after the assassination of his father in 1821. He reigned as Alexander I until 1825, dying without issue. His brother Konstantin Pavlovich was viceroy of Poland from 1816 and in 1822 renounced his claim to the throne in favour of a younger brother, Nicholas I, preferring to live in Warsaw with his wife, a Catholic commoner. Alexandra Pavlovna married a Habsburg, Archduke Josef, Palatine of Hungary, in 1799.

Zosim Valkevich (1719-1793), archimandrite of the Caves of Saint Antonius at the Pecheisk Lavra in Kiev, was elected by the monks on February 1, 1762. As a result of imperial reforms he was dismissed from his duties in 1786. The text of the inscription seems to indicate that Zosim was the one who approved the project, while Vitalii was responsible for seeing the commission carried out.

The Pechersk Lavra (literally, "monastery of the caves") played a cardinal role in the religious, cultural, and political life of Kiev for more than eight hundred years. Approximately three miles south of the centre of Kiev, the complex is situated on two hills separated by a hollow, covering about fifty-five acres. It consists of three separate sections, the monastery proper, or Upper Monastery, the Near Caves, and the Far Caves.

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries numerous craftsmen active at the Pechersk Lavra played a major role in establishing Kiev's primacy as an artistic centre, stimulating close contacts with the West. In the late 1750s the baroque style evolved into a rococo characterized by rich surface ornamentation in a lavish use of decorative motifs. The gates in the Gilbert Collection are among the finest examples of this brilliant period of Kievan art and the only such works in existence outside the Soviet Union.

Known as royal gates because Christ as the King of Glory passes through them in the form of the Eucharist, they are the central feature of the iconostasis, the tall, wall-like partition that separates the sanctuary from the nave in Orthodox churches. They function physically as the entrance to the altar area, which is accessible only to priests and deacons in full liturgical vestments, and spiritually as a symbol of the entrance into the kingdom of God. Closed at various times during the service, the gates are opened to allow the congregation a view of the sanctuary at specific moments in the liturgy. Always double doors, they are traditionally of wood or base metal; silver and silver-gilt examples are extremely rare outside the Soviet Union.

On the basis of documents preserved in the Central State Historical Archives in Kiev, these gates are attributed to Gregory Chizhevski. His technical ability can be seen in the bold forms and effectively contrasting textures of the embossed medallions and in the patterns of pure, elegant line in the central cartouche of Christ as the Great Bishop. The weight of the heavily embossed shapes is offset by the pierced ornament surrounding them. He rapidly adapted to the westernized style, which is particularly evident in his ornamentation: the traditional icons are surrounded by lush, graceful secular motifs that can be found in rococo art throughout Europe. He was less competent in representing the human body and other volumes in space. The medallions display awkward passages and signs of a tack of understanding of drawing, but they possess nevertheless a great deal of naive charm and direct simplicity. Alla Theodora Hall

Glossaries

emboss - mould or carve in relief, decorate with a raised design
parcel-gilt - silver that is gilded in some areas but not in others
gilt, gilding - the embellishment of silver, bronze or other material with a thin layer of gold
cartouche - an ornamental panel in the shape of curled paper or parchment scrolls
chase - to decorate a metal surface using a hammer and sharp tool

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