The Armoury Chamber’s collection of ceramics and glass comprises around 2,500 items made from a wide range of different types of materials, such as terracotta and majolica, soft, fine and hard porcelain, glass (not only transparent colourless, but and coloured), mirrors, pieces decorated with Roman mosaic, églomisé jewellery, and cut glass (including those in silver and metal mounting).
Ceramics, mainly artistic porcelain, make up the greater part of the collection, which contains 2,000 items. The collection of porcelain in the Armoury Chamber was founded in the mid-19th century. The chronological range of the collection is rather wide, as the Moscow Kremlin Museums possess several artworks created in Ancient Greece in the 4th century B.C. However, there are not many things that old and European and Russian porcelain from the 18th to 20th century forms the basis of the collection.
Here you can see the production of the oldest and most prestigious firms, such as Meissen and Berlin manufactures (Germany), factories of Sèvres, Paris and Limoges (France), English faience, the Imperial Porcelain Factory of Saint Petersburg and famous private factories of Russia, such as Gardner, Kornilov brothers, Popov, Batenin, and others.
The collection includes unique pieces that honour their creators. Two magnificent services – the Olympic and the Kremlin – are the brightest works of art. The first one was made in 1804-1807 in Sèvres by order of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte as a gift to Russian Emperor Alexander I to mark the conclusion of the Treaties of Tilsit. The second dinner service, made at the Imperial Porcelain Factory in St Petersburg (1837-1839), adorned the festive table in the Grand Kremlin Palace during the most solemn ceremonies in the Kremlin.
The Moscow Kremlin Museums’ collection of artistic glass is one of the oldest in Russia. It began to form at the end of the 18th century and includes items produced in the period from the mid-16th to the 20th centuries. These masterpieces are unique pieces of a significant artistic value, relating to eminent historical events, European and Russian glassmaking formation and technological development. The museum preserves works by Venetian, Bohemian, German, French, Russian, and Chinese masters. A Venetian glasses of Marfa Sobakina (the third wife of Ivan the Terrible), striking Bohemian goblets with the Apostles, as well as magnificent works of art from the time of Peter the Great – the “Themis” goblet dedicated to the naval victories of Russia in the Northern war, the “Poltava Battle” goblet and others are among the museum’s most splendid exhibits.