Count Ivan Paskevich-Erivanskii: APolishgilded silver table mirror, Karol Filip Malcz, Warsaw, 1828-1831. The shaped mirror framed with a gilded silver mount chased with scrolls & shells, surmounted by the new coat-of-arms of the Count of Erivan that Ivan Paskevich had been awarded in 1828, the wood back with shaped strut. Height 29 3/8 in., width 20 1/2 in. (74.6 x 52 cm).

Ivan Paskevich-Erivanskii was a hero of the Napoleonic & Russo-Persian Wars of 1826-1828; his portrait by George Dawe is included among the heroes of the Napoleonic Wars in the Military Gallery of 1812 in the Winter Palace, Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. Paskevich-Erivanskii was named Viceroy of Poland in 1831, on September 4, 1831, he was made Prince of Warsaw & his coat-of-arms was changed to include thePolisheagle. The mirror was made in the very short period in between which Malcz opened his own workshop in 1828 & Paskevich-Erivanskii was elevated to Prince of Warsaw.

Karol Filip Malcz (1797-1867), grandson of the silversmith Jan Johann Bandau, received training in his grandfather’s workshop as well as in the workshop of the Warsaw silversmith Jan Maciej Schwartz. Between 1818 & 1827, he traveled throughout Europe, studying silver- & goldsmithing & working in manufactories in Germany, Holland, England, France, Italy, Hungary, & Austria. Objects from his workshop enjoy the very highest reputation today because they are characterized by his close study of the latest trends in European design. He designed objects as well as collaborating with Warsaw artists such as Ludwik Kaufman (1801-1855) & Jan Styfi (1839-1921). Items from his workshop are marked with his surname Malczin Latin letters & an anchor in an oval. His works are held in, among others, the collections of: the National Museum in Warsaw; Museum of Warsaw; Museum of Decorative Arts in Kazimierz Dolny. Bibliography: H. Lileyko,Srebra warszawskie w zbiorach Muzeum Historycznego m.. st. Warszawy, Warszawa 1979, pp. 63-64, 76, 94.