Ivan Khlebnikov

Jeweller, goldsmith, silversmith, industrialist, merchant. Hallmark: ?•? or ?? or ??? or XB or ?????????? or ????????????? in a rectangle. Born in St Petersburg in the family of a jewellery merchant called Pyotr Khlebnikov (1819). Worked in his father’s shop (1830s) and elected a merchant of the first guild (1840s). Collaborated with Gasse in St Petersburg (1850s) and founded a firm of jewellers (1865), employing his sons Mikhail, Nikolai and Alexei (1866) and opening two outlets on Silver Row in Moscow (1867–69). Moved to Moscow (1870), where he opened a factory in the Naryshkin House on the corner of 1 Ryumin Lane and 2 Upper Bolvanovka (now Radischev) Street on Shvivaya Hill (1871). Made new objects for existing imperial services in the Gatchina Palace, Anichkov Palace and Winter Palace in St Petersburg (1870s) and fifty religious ornaments for the Church of Christ the Saviour in Moscow (1870s). Appointed official purveyor to Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich (1872) and Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich (1877). Made works for the wardrobe of the future Empress Maria Fyodorovna (1873) and a liquor set presented by the Russian Merchant House of St Petersburg to Kaiser Wilhelm I of Germany (1873). Opened outlets in the Heated Trading Rows at 3 Ilinka Street and the Solodovnikov Passage on Kuznetsky Most in Moscow (1870s–80s) and a shop in the Engelhardt House on the corner of 30 Nevsky Prospekt and 16 Catherine Canal Embankment in St Petersburg (1877). Awarded the title of official purveyor to the rulers of Denmark, Netherlands, Serbia and Montenegro (1877–79) and to the imperial court of Russia (1879). Employed first-guild merchant Vladimir Suvorov (1878) and formed a trading house called I. P. Khlebnikov, Sons & Co (1880). Opened schools of design and sculpture for thirty-five students and employed two hundred craftsmen (1880). Died and buried at the St Andronikos Monastery of the Saviour in Moscow (1881), where his work was continued by his sons and other partner (1881–1918), who employed three hundred craftsmen (1882), took over the factories and shops of Sazikov (1887) and founded a joint-stock company called the Corporation for the Production of Silverware, Goldware and Jewellery of I. P. Khlebnikov, Sons & Co (1888), which made icon covers for the Annunciation Cathedral (1896), iconostases, icon-cases and tomb covers for the Dormition Cathedral (1898–1915), an altar cross endowed by Princess Zinaida Yussupova to the Convent of St Martha and St Mary at 34 Bolshaya Ordynka Street (1910) and a wooden and silver platter presented by representatives of Moscow Province to Tsar Nicholas II on the centenary of the Battle of Borodino (1912). Transferred ownership to one family member and closed down the plant (1917), which was nationalised and reopened as the Moscow Platinum Factory (1918). Contributed to exhibitions (from 1870). Contributed to the Pan-Russian Manufacturing Exhibition at Solyanoi Gorodok in St Petersburg (1870), Polytechnic Exhibition in Moscow (1872), Pan-Russian Exhibition of Art and Industry in Moscow (1882), Weltausstellung in Vienna (1873), Ausstellung fu?r Gewerbe, Industrie und landwirtschaftliche Producte in Mitawa (1875), Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia (1876), Exposition Universelle in Paris (1878, 1889), Gewerbe-Ausstellung in Riga (1883), Internationale Koloniale en Uitvoerhandel Tentoonstelling in Amsterdam (1883), World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago (1893), Works of the Moscow Jewellery Firm Khlebnikov at the Armoury in Moscow (2001), Treasures of the Moscow Kremlin at the Alexander Radischev Museum of Art in Saratov (2005) and Samara Regional Museum of Art in Samara (2005–06), Empress Maria Fedorovna: A Life and Fate at the Federal Archives Exhibition Hall in Moscow (2006), Russian Silver of the 18th–20th Centuries from the Collection of the Moscow Kremlin Museums at the Samara Regional Museum of Art in Samara (2007–08), Russian Silver (18th to Early 20th Centuries) at the Ivan Shemanovsky Museum and Exhibition Complex of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District in Salekhard (2010–11), Golden Age of Russian Jewellery Art at the Vladimir-Suzdal Museum Complex of History, Architecture and Art in Vladimir (2010–11), Russian Jewelry – Traditions and Modern Day at the Estet Jewelry House in Moscow (2011), The Kremlin from the Tsardom of Muscovy to the Last Coronation at the Kazan Kremlin Museum Complex in Kazan (2011–12), Gold: Metal of Gods and King of Metals at the History Museum in Moscow (2012), Treasures of the Czars in the Moscow Kremlin Museums at Oca in the Parque do Ibirapuera in Sâo Paolo (2005), Fabergén aika at the Museum Centre Vapriikki in Tampere (2006), Il gioielliere degli ultimi Zar at La Venaria Reale in Turin (2012), World of Fabergé at the Shanghai Museum in Shanghai (2012–13) and Fabergé: Legacy of Imperial Russia at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum in Hong Kong (2013).