Maria Menshikova

EXCLUSIVE PUBLICATIONS

Maria Menshikova
On Certain Official Precious and Rare Gifts to the Russian Emperor Peter I from the Chinese Kangxi Emperor

#2 2022 (75)

This year marks the 350th anniversary of the birth of the Russian Tsar Peter the Great (1672-1725). Among the many events commemorating this significant date, the State Hermitage Museum prepared a monographic exhibition called “Exotic and Lavish China. Knowledge of the Orient” (which ran from April 19 to June 12, 2022). For the first time, the unique exhibits preserved by the State Hermitage and directly related to Peter I and his associates were presented in such a configuration. Accompanying the exhibition is an edition that reflects the history of the Chinese collections in the Hermitage at the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th centuries, as well as the development of Oriental studies and museum work in the Russian Empire. Many documentary exhibits are published for the first time, and their history has only been recently studied.