О собраниях древностей северного причерноморья, приобретенных императорской археологической комиссией у п.а. Mаврогордато в 1903 году
The collections of Antiquities of the Northern Black Sea Region, acquired by the Imperial Archaeological Commission from P.A. Mavrogordato in 1903

Summary/Abstract: This article examines the issue of the history and composition of private archaeological collections of the late 19th - early 20th c. using the example of the assemblage of P.A. Mavrogordato (fig. 1), which is held now in the State Hermitage Museum. A brief biography of this collector and patron of arts is presented, providing the reader with lesser-known facts of his life. The authors of the article also throw light on a comprehensive analysis of presently published sources and archive documents, made by O.V. Gorskaya and M.V. Medvedeva (Горская, Медведева 2015; Горская, Медведева 2016), which made it possible to identify 69 jewelry items made of gold and silver from the period of the 4th c. BC - 4th c. AD. Those pieces came to the Hermitage in 1902-1903 from the collection of P.A. Mavrogordato and were kept in the Department of Classical Antiquities (figs. 3-5). An assumption is made that in the collection of P.A. Mavrogordato of 1902-1903 there could be some gold decorations and other items from the royal kurgan of Oguz (?) (figs. 6, 7). The authors support this assumption with some data from sources published in the early 20th c. and with some newly presented archival materials, including a I.F. Chistyakov’s photograph of golden jewelry with the following inscription: “from the collection of P.A. Mavrogordato (from the kurgan ‘Oguz’ in the Melitopol ujezd, in the nearest village of Nizhnie Serogozy (Hermitage))” (fig. 6). Verification of our assumption requires further research, including study, analysis, and a full publication of the archival documents of the Imperial Archaeological Commission from the Scientific Archives of the Institute for the History of Material Culture (IIMK) of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

• Details
• Contents