ezeiselmostly Collection & Estate Sale  

 Photo by Joe Boekholtz

Zeisel Medallion by Dank'ko, 2.5" diameter, bisque white

In 1932 Eva Stricker traveled to Russia on a whim, but then decided to stay when she was offered a position a a designer of consumer goods.  She was later promoted to the position of Artistic Director for the Porcelain and Glass Indusgtries for the entire country, but in 1936 was arrested on trumped-up charges and imprisoned for 18 months by the NKVD.  In 1937 she was unexpectedly released and sent to Austria, where she was met by her family.  Meanwhile,another hero of the Stalinist era, her friend and colleague, the famed chief sculptor of the Lomonosov Porcelain Factory, Natalia Dan'ko (pronounced donCOE) was creating a series of bas-relief medallions of friends and colleagues from the intellectual and artistic circles of Moscow and St. Petersburg who had been caught in the Stalinist cycle of betrayal, trials, and murders, and whom she wanted to commemorate, expecting that they would not survive this nightmare time. All of the medallions were hidden, for to be caught with them would mean that their creator would in turn be condemned. Natalya Dan'ko died of starvation in 1942 during the siege of Leningrad, at about the time that Eva Zeisel was commissioned by the Museum of Modern Art and Castleton China to create Museum dinnerware.                           
In the early 1990's, during the glasnost period, the charges against Stricker were legally overturned and she was declared "rehabilitated." Later in that decade, during the time of the rebuilding at the Lomonosov Factory in St. Petersburg, the medallion of Eva Stricker was taken from hiding, and plans were made to present it to the person who, they had recently discovered, had re-emerged as the world-famous Eva Zeisel. In April 2000, a delegation of 11 designers and artists from Lomonosov traveled to New York and presented Eva with the medallion which Natalya had made for her. After 60 years, Eva held in her hands the tribute from her friend.  

In 2000, The Lomonosov Porcelain Factory inSt. Peterssburg cast a limited edition of the  Zeisel Medallion by Dan"ko and Zeisel has delegated the exclusive distribution of these medals for the support of the  Eva Zeisel  Collectors Club (now the Eva Zeisel forum.)

Natalia Dan'ko limited edition of Eva Stricker Zeisel Medallion in presentation case - $75.00 FREE SHIPPING IN U.S.A.