V. Tsivkin, gilded silver cigarette case chased with cypress trees, Kyiv, Imperial Russia (present-day Ukraine), 1908–1917

Silver, gilding

4 1/8 x 3 in. (10.6 x 7.4 cm)

Inv. no. ab_6954

Kyiv, or Kiev, silversmith-jeweler V. Tsivkin, was a member of the community of Jewish jewelers working in that city in the 19th and early 20th centuries. His surname is known to us only because he used it in his maker’s mark (В. ЦИВКИН). Based on his surviving works, most of his production was devoted to Art Nouveau silver cigarette cases. This case chased with cypresses also has a fylfot border on the sides. The fylfot, sometimes known in Russian as solntsevorot (солнцеворот), became popular as a symbol of good luck in the last years of the Russian Empire.

Tsivkin probably had some ties to the important Kyiv jeweler Iosif (Joseph) Marshak. In his memoirs, Iosif’s son Alexander mentions two men with the same surname – Israel and Lev Tsivkin – who served in senior positions as engravers, chasers, and managers in the workshop. The little we know about this talented silversmith shows the great amount of research that remains to be done on the Jewish silversmiths of Ukraine.