COUPÉ. VIENNA, 1740

Coupé
Vienna, 1740; velvet – France, the 18^th c. Ashwood, velvet, bronze, iron; wood carving, oil painting, gilding on gesso.

It belonged to Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, daughter of Peter the Great. In 1797, it was moved from Saint Petersburg to Moscow Coach Yard. Acquired by the Armoury Chamber from the Moscow Coach Yard in 1834.
Portrait of Empress Elizaveta Petrovna
Russia, first quarter of the 19th c.
Author: unknown artist.
Wood; oil on canvas
Form and decoration of the body
Coupé. Vienna, 1740.

Velvet – France, the 18^th c. Fragment
Painting on the wall of the body
Coupé. Vienna, 1740. Fragment
Details of carved décor on the body
Coupé. Vienna, 1740.Fragment

This two-seater carriage is a bright example of numerous ceremonial equipages of Russian Empress Elizaveta Petrovna. Such equipages had always been ordered by the best European masters.

The carriage has laminated springs, an axle-pivot and crane-neck. Same as in other similar carriages from the collection of the Armoury Chamber, the doorsare low and the folding step is inside. The body narrows towards the base and the lower section of the back wall curves smoothly. There are three windows on the front and side walls. The windows and upper half of the doors with a figured top section contain plate glass.

Carved décor holds pride of place in the overall composition of the carriage’s artistic treatment. The wall-joints are covered with gilded carving which emphasizes the elegant lines of the body. Heavily gilded foliate motifs and rocailles, whimsical scrolls and picturesque groups of floral bouquets painted in pastel shades twine over the cornice, the door and the window frames and all the details of the front and back of the undercarriage. The carving is extremely plastic and dynamic.

The allegorical figures that adorn the front and back of the undercarriage show the high degree of mastery and fine, gentle modelling. Everything radiates the gracious Rococo style with a certain refinement added by Viennese masters.

The walls and doors of the body are adorned with paintings on mythological themes - nymphs, tritons and cupids in goldenish-green shades. The interior upholstery and crest are of white French relief velvet with blue and red flowers. The pattern blends well with the carved décor and its colours with the overall colour scheme of the carriage. The wheels are painted green.

A certain strictness in form, the absence of excessive decoration, and the skilful combination of a relief pattern with elegant ornament of a graphic nature are all features of this fine coupé which testifies to the high artistic level of Vienesse equipages at this time.

The carriage was made in Vienna in 1740 for Peter the Great’s daughter Elizaveta on an order from the Russian court.