Formation of the French Porcelain Collection at the Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko National Museum of Arts. Analysis of the Archive

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to investigate the history of the formation of the French porcelain collection in the Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko National Museum of Arts; to study the available archival documents related to the collection of Bohdan Khanenko and late arrivals of decorative art to the museum's funds; to analyse the museum policy of the Soviet government in the 1920s - 1950s using the example of the Khanenko Museum. The research methodology is based on the use of methods: source studies – for the systematisation and classification of archival sources, comparative and analytical – for the identification of works of art. The scientific novelty consists in the systematisation of archival data on the formation of the French porcelain collection at the Khanenko Museum; generalisation of the main cultural and historical conditions for the formation of the museum collection of porcelain. Conclusions. One third of the French porcelain collection was collected by the founders of the museum, Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko, at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries, the second part arrived to the museum in 1927 from the Leningrad Department of the State Museum Fund (private collections until 1919), the third part – late arrivals in the 1930s - 1950s mainly from the Kyiv Museum of Russian Art (today the National Museum Kyiv Art Gallery), and the rest remain of uncertain origin.

Keywords: Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko National Museum of Arts, porcelain, history of collecting, collection formation.