Draginja Maskareli
Art Historian, Belgrade Heritage House
KOLEKCIJA SREBRNINE IZ LEGATA IRINE SIMIĆ U MUZEJU PRIMENJENE UMETNOSTI U BEOGRADU
SILVERWARE COLLECTION FROM THE IRINA SIMIĆ LEGACY IN THE MUSEUM OF APPLIED ART IN BELGRADE
Journal 2/2006 (Museum of Applied Art), pages 31-39
UDC:
069. 51 : 73/75
069. 51 : 64
Abstract (original language):
Legat Irine Simić čuva se u Muzeju primenjene umetnosti u Beogradu i sadrži 194 predmeta: umetničke slike, stilski nameštaj, tepihe, nakit, posuđe i dr. Kolekciju srebrnine iz legata čini 25 predmeta, uglavnom posuđa, stonog pribora i sitnih upotrebnih i ukrasnih predmeta koji se čuvaju u Odseku za metal i nakit. Većina predmeta iz kolekcije potiče iz 19. i prvih decenija 20. veka sa područja Zapadne Evrope i Rusije. Ovaj prilog donosi pregled osnovnih podataka o legatu Irine Simić i kolekciji srebrnine u okviru ovog legata.
Key words: (original language)
srebrnina, posuđe, stoni pribor, Beograd, legati, zbirke, Irina Simić
Summary:
The history of Irina Simić legacy is insufficiently well known and has only been partly reconstructed to date. The legacy, which the Belgrader Irina Simić bequeathed to the City of Belgrade in 1975, is kept in the Museum of Applied Art in Belgrade. It contains 194 objects: paintings, antique furniture, carpets, jewellery, artistically crafted metal objects, ceramics, porcelain, glass, etc.
Irina Simić (1915-1988) was born in Moscow, in a bourgeois family which, immediately after the outbreak of the October Revolution, emigrated to Yugoslavia. Irina's father, Nikola Kopitin, was an engineer. Irina Simić compiled her collection of the works of art together with her husband, Ljubomir Simić. They married in Belgrade in 1957, and they contributed works to the collection either individually, from their respective family inheritance, or collected them in the course of their life together.
The silverware collection from Irina Simić legacy comprises 25 objects, mostly tableware and small useful and decorative objects and decoration that are kept in the Metal and Jewellery Department. Most of the objects from the collection date back to the 19th century and first decades of the 20th century, from the area of Western Europe and Russia.
Among the objects from the collection, particularly worthy of attention is the serving tray (Cat. No. 5), made about 1880, a product of a reputable Vienna company, J. C. Klinkosch, samovar (Cat. No. 6), made in Warsaw in 1845-1847 in the workshop owned by Messrs. K. Klima and Szewski, as well as parts of a tea service (Cat. No. 7 and 8) made in St. Petersburg 1844/45.
An exception in this collection is a silver chalice (Cat. No. 1), made in the 17th century in one of the famous Augsburg workshops. Besides, the collection also harbours a specimen of the industrial design: sugar tongs (Cat. No. 20) from the 3300 tableware set, which was designed in 1951 by Kurt Mayer for the famous German factory WMF.
The silverware collection as well as the entire Irina Simić legacy was not produced by systematic collection but rather constitutes a body of objects of different provenance, intended use, and artistic value. Many objects from the collection are actually parts of bigger functional units which were lost. Regardless of these losses that are observed from the museological perspective, the Irina Simić legacy is nevertheless an important document about the middle-class lifestyle in Serbia and the aspirations of Serbian middle-class to maintain its cultural connections and values throughout different social environments.
You can download PDF of the article 
(449 KB)