Stolen Masterpieces from the Khanenko Collection of the East

Special project

Khanenko Museum

Address

вул. Терещенківська, 15-17

Contacts

(099) 667 49 06 (044) 235 32 90

Price

до 120 грн

Working hours

з 10:30 до 17:30 (вихідні: понеділок, вівторок)

About the museum

The art collection of Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko, donated by their will in 1918 to the All-Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, suffered significant losses during the Soviet period. In the 1920s and 1930s, as part of the Soviet government's "economic" project, aquamaniles, a silver bowl, and paintings by world-renowned artists were confiscated. We will provide more details about them.

Sculptures

Aquamanile, 1206.

Aquamanil (Shirvan Aquarius) is a unique monument of the Iranian Middle Ages

A unique monument of Iranian medieval art, the Shirvan Aquamanile from 1206, was part of the Khanenko art collection of Islamic art. It was donated to the All-Ukrainian Academy of Sciences in the early 1920s and was one of the best collections in the Soviet Union, drawing the attention of connoisseurs. The Khanenko aquamanile was thoroughly studied. In May 1928, the State Trade Commission began selecting items from the museum that could be sold abroad "without harm to the museums." The masterpiece was valued at 3,000 kopecks and was earmarked for sale. The museum's appeals to all authorities to protect its treasures were unsuccessful. It was later discovered by chance that the aquamanile had been purchased in 1932 by the Oriental Department of the Hermitage for its exhibition. Since then, Russian museum professionals have exhibited this masterpiece from the Ukrainian collection as part of their own holdings.

Faience product

Silver Bowl with Ibexes from the Sasanian Era

Gilded silver bowl from the Sassanian period

The gilded silver bowl from the Sasanian era was well-known to experts in Eastern art during Bohdan Khanenko's lifetime. The owner himself first publicized information about the artifact in 1901, and in 1928, the State Trade Commission included it on the lists of items to be exported, valuing it at 10,000 kopecks. Since then, the artifact became a subject of the museum's struggle and even remained in the Ukrainian capital for a while. However, in 1935, it was transferred to Leningrad at the request of the organizing committee of the 3rd International Congress of Iranian Art and Archaeology for a major exhibition, and it was never returned to Kyiv. Was it stolen or "borrowed"?

Pictures

Landscape in the vicinity of Beauvais

“Landscape on the outskirts of Beauvais” - François Boucher, 1704

On the canvas, Bushy depicted the life of a small French village through his lofty dreams. The heroes of the picture are busy with their daily affairs: a young blond girl, sitting in a boat, washes clothes. Nearby there is a young man in a wide-brimmed hat, along the spread out next to the nets you can guess that this is a young fisherman. He seems to have just finished the conversation with a pretty washerwoman and involuntarily looked back towards the viewer. In the water you can see an improvised pier of stone slabs, on the edge of which a small dog stopped, timid from the sight of water and not daring to move on. In an effort to convey the beauty of rural solitude, the artist carefully wrote out the surrounding landscape: an overgrown stone bridge, a variety of greenery and cozy houses with thatched roofs.

Pictures

Adam and Eve

“Adam and Eve - a diptych by Lukas Kranach the Elder

‘Adam and Eve is a diptych by Lucas Kranach the Elder. It was painted in oil on board. In 1929, the Bolsheviks seized the painting from the Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko Museum of Art and, despite the protests of Ukrainian art historians, sold it at auction in Berlin[2]. The diptych is exhibited at the Norton Simon Museum. Other paintings by Kranach on the same biblical theme are kept in the Vienna Museum of Art History, Kurtalda Gallery[en], Uffizi Gallery, Museum of Fine Arts in Leipzig, and the Art Institute of Chicago.

Pictures

Courtesan

The courtesan of Jacob Adriaanse

Jacob Adriaan's courtesan is a significant figure in history, known for her role in the social life and culture of her time. She could be a symbol of an era in which women, despite social constraints, found ways to influence society through the arts, entertainment and other areas. Her story can reflect both the achievements and challenges that women have faced in the past.