Feodor Rückert, shaded cloisonné enamel beaker, retailed by the firm of Gashkel and Shik (St. Petersburg), Moscow, 1908–1917

Silver, enamel, gilding

H. 6 3/8 in. (16.2 cm). Dia. at upper rim 3 1/4 in. (8.25 cm)

Inv. no. ab_0021

St. Petersburg merchants Solomon (Shlomo) Solomonovich Gashkel (1867?–1932) and Isaak Yakovlevich (Isai Yakov Meerovich) Shik (1877–1959) were making and selling jewelry, gold, and silver at their St. Petersburg shop at 32 Sadovaya St by 1906. Their Cyrillic initials GiSh (ГиШ) appearing on some of Feodor Rückert’s most innovative works remained unidentified for many years. This beaker, for example, combines exuberant, almost abstract floral motifs with geometric elements reminiscent of the Wiener Werkstätte.

The firm of Gashkel and Shik was located in the same building as their competitor Abram Beilin-Levkov, much to the latter’s annoyance. By 1914 they had moved to 65 Kamenoostrovsky pr. on the Petrograd Side. Shik was also a furrier, and his business was large enough to qualify him as a Merchant of the Second Guild. He came from a cultured family; his brother Maksimilian (1884–1968) was a poet, critic, and administrator at the famous Moscow Art Theater from 1908 to 1910. Gashkel in particular seems to have thrived in this business. The 1914 St. Petersburg city guide describes him as a Merchant of the First Guild, a designation indicating high gross receipts.

After the 1917 Revolution, both Gashkel and Shik escaped to France with their families. Shik continued to work as a furrier while supporting Jewish charities until the Nazis forced the family to flee once again. When they arrived in New York in 1941 they were described as “stateless” on passenger lists. They immediately applied for US citizenship and United States National Archives records indicate that by 1947 they had American passports. In 1950, they returned to France. Isaak Shik died there in 1959. Less is known of Solomon Gashkel's life in France, beyond the record of his death in Cannes in 1932.

Publications:

Muntyan, T.N. Karl Faberzhe i Fedor Riukert. Shedevry russkoi emali. Moscow: Gosudarstvennyi istoriko-kulʹturnyi muzei-zapovednik "Moskovskii Kremlʹ", 2020, cat. no. 296.