During the Russian-Ukrainian war, our Reserve received a priceless gift – 96 porcelain items. They were sent by a resident of Canada, a Ukrainian by origin, Ms. Olena Berykul-Kryvoruchko. According to her, she belongs to the more than one million Ukrainian-Canadian community of people who love and respect Canada but remain Ukrainians who care and take care of their historical Motherland. We are infinitely grateful for the gift because the unique collection of porcelain will rightfully occupy an essential place among stock collections.
Objects made of porcelain and ceramics were sent to the Reserve, and there are more than 300 of them in Ms. Elena’s collection; she collected them for 30 years. And now she decided to give them to the museums of those regions in Ukraine, from where her family comes from.
Her great-grandfathers were first Slobid Cossacks and then the Cossacks of Krasnosil. In 1826, they were moved to Voznesensk, where Elena was born many years later and spent the first 7 years of her life. In the current Cherkasy region, in the village of Yaroshivtsi, from the 18th to the beginning of the 20th century, her ancestors of mother’s line, Romanyuk-Shvets-Romanenko, lived.
Now Ms. Elena lives in the province of Ontario. She works as an art teacher in a general public school, and her husband is a programmer for an international television company. Now Ms. Elena lives in the province of Ontario. She works as an art teacher in a general public school, and her husband is a programmer for an international television company. During the Russian-Ukrainian war, Ms. Olena and her husband organized a small charity fund that sent medicines, clothes, ammunition, etc., to Ukrainian soldiers. They are enormously grateful because this is their influential contribution to the approach of Victory.
We can study world culture from the obtained porcelain because more than 20 countries present the objects of the collection. Most products are from England, Japan, China, Italy, Germany, the USA, and France. Among the well-known manufacturers of tableware, decorative, and household items are the Thomas brand (Germany), the Hotesse French porcelain line, the Avon line (Canada), the Bradford group of companies (USA), the Royal Doulton company (England), the Wedgwood porcelain company » (England); quite famous are Troyan ceramics (Bulgaria), Delft porcelain (Netherlands), Limousin porcelain (France). Among the porcelain, products are the works of the famous American artist of Taiwanese origin, Lina Liu.
The porcelain collection represents various techniques and styles: reticulated, Rice Grain, Crackle, Moriage, Cloisonne, Chokin Art, Lithophany, Imari, Art Deco, Neo-Rococo, etc.
Porcelain products will be interesting for both adults and children. They will be presented in a separate hall of the new exposition, “Palace of Poniatovsky.” We hope peace will soon reign in Ukraine and we will be able to show everyone the generous gift of Ms. Olena, a Ukrainian by origin.
