A rare porcelain figurine-corkscrew "Odarka" by the outstanding Ukrainian ceramist Valentyna Tregubova has recently broken its own record on Violity. On November 5, users estimated the price of this porcelain at 20,021 hryvnias. There were 83 bids during the auction.
@MaksimenkoMaksim / violity.com
This is a small-scale, hand-painted statuette about 22 centimeters high. They were produced around 1960-1980s at the Korosten Porcelain Factory.
Corkscrews "Odarka and Karas" by Valentyna and Mykola Tregubov, sold on Violity on 12/19/22 for 12000 UAH
@elmira922 / violity.com
If there is Odarka, then of course there is Karas: they are usually sold in pairs. But even together, they have not yet been valued as high as the aforementioned single lot. For example, in December last year, a set of such corkscrews was bought for a blitz price of 12,000 UAH.
Ivan Karas and his jealous wife Odarka are the main characters in Semen Hulak-Artemovsky's opera Zaporozhets Beyond the Danube. In Soviet Ukraine, they were real folk favorites: they were often depicted on everyday objects, featured on the postage stamp of the Ukrainian SSR, and in the 2010s were even depicted on a silver commemorative coin of the National Bank.
Valentyna Tregubova in the workshop
zhytomyr.travel
The porcelain factory located in the city of Korosten, Zhytomyr region, dates back to 1909. Built by a Pole named Tymofii Przybylski, the company was nationalized after 1917, was destroyed during the Second World War, and survived an attempted raider seizure in the early nineteenth century until it finally went bankrupt in 2012.Valentyna Mykhailivna Tregubova (1926-2010) and her husband Mykola Semenovych (1922-2007) worked at the plant together for over 45 years.
After graduating from the Institute of Applied and Decorative Arts in Lviv, the young ceramist joined the factory in the 1950s and soon became one of its leading artists. She worked mostly in collaboration with her husband. He was the chief sculptor.
Mykola Tregubov at work
zhytomyr.travel
The couple of porcelain artists often turned to folk motifs. Plates and vases of anthropomorphic forms constitute a separate group in their oeuvre. Diverse in plasticity, lavishly painted with cobalt, gold, and other bright colors, these products were a great success. They were often exhibited at exhibitions and given to foreigners as national souvenirs. The Tregubovs were awarded the Shevchenko Prize for their highly artistic use of folk traditions in works of decorative and applied art.
In general, it can be noted that collectors' interest in the Tregubovs' work is growing. Here are just some of the most recently sold porcelain pieces by them:
A rare vase by Valentina Tregubova, Korosten Porcelain Factory. Sold at Violity on 08/21/2023 for 38000 UAH
@kizim555 / violity.com
Vase "Flax blooms" by Valentina and Nikolai Tregubov. The second half of the 1970s, Korosten Porcelain Factory. Sold at Violity on 10/31/23 for 15000 UAH
@Client504414 / violity.com
Right now, if you search for "Tregubovy" in the Ceramics, Porcelain, Glass section, you can find a couple of dozen interesting offers, and several booksellers have a rather rare album-catalog dedicated to the couple's work. Take a closer look - perhaps one of these lots has a chance to become the next price record holder.
