Icon Room
As planned, the Russian Sacred Arts Gallery closed for de-installation on Monday, December 4. Some of the icons and censers were re-installed in the Icon Room on Monday, December 11. A new, updated list with additional object information for the icons and censers installed into the space is attached and now available on the volunteer website.
Mark Your Calendars: The refreshed gallery space on the second floor will reopen in late March 2024 with a new name, Second Floor Gallery: Understanding Post’s Legacy, with new displays and a new storyline. Additional information will be shared with the volunteers closer to the reopening date. Learn more about the plans for the second floor gallery in this article by Deputy Director and Chief Curator Wilfried Zeisler.
Russian Porcelain Room
There is also an exciting update on the Russian porcelain room! In order to safeguard the marquetry floor, a new floor covering was installed to the Russian porcelain room on Monday, December 11. This innovative solution comes from Eyemat, a UK-based company specializing in conservation flooring utilizing digital images. The addition of this conservation flooring allows visitors to fully experience the Russian porcelain room, just as they would have during a visit in Post’s lifetime. With this new flooring, there are no longer stanchions, giving visitors the freedom to step on the replica of the round carpet that has been on display in the room since 1961. We are thrilled with the increased accessibility this enhancement creates for the Russian porcelain room. Click here to read Associate Curator of Textiles, Apparel, Jewelry and Accessories Megan Martinelli’s article from earlier this year to learn more about this exciting project and view archival photographs used to uncover Marjorie Post’s vision for the space.
With this change, the imperial double-headed eagle wood floor is now covered. This provides a new opportunity for our mansion docents to highlight other objects in the Russian porcelain room during their tours, some which still feature the figure of the imperial eagle, though with some different features. Deputy Director and Chief Curator Wilfried Zeisler offers a recommendation for docents who want to keep this figure as part of their tours:
“There are several plates with imperial eagles in the Russian Porcelain Room. I would recommend they focus on the plates in Case II, shelf 4. 4 plates showcase different ways to represent the eagle from the late 1700s to the early 1900s. One they could focus on is plate 26.269. The other plates are 25.160, 25.161, and 25.316.”
For a list with images and descriptions of these objects in the Russian porcelain room, please see the linked document.
Deinstallations
Lastly, several objects in the mansion were deinstalled in late December in preparation for the upcoming exhibition Marjorie Merriweather Post’s Paris, which will be on display from February 17, 2024 to June 16, 2024. In correlation with this deinstallation, two objects were installed in the mansion, replacing the portrait of Marie Antoinette and bust of Voltaire. For the list of these deinstalled and installed objects, please refer to the linked document.