Tea Set Dedicated

to the Battle of Stalingrad

A gift to Joseph Stalin on his 70th birthday from the staff

of Communist-international Gorodnitsa Porcelain Factory,

Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, 1949

The white china tea set embodies the glory of the country's victory during WWII.

Painted by artist N. S. Zhabokritsky, it carries portraits of USSR leader

and top-ranking military men involved in one of the greatest battles of the 20th

century, the Battle of Stalingrad. However, there is one man missing in this

portrait gallery, Marshal Georgy Zhukov, who was also commonly called

"marshal of the victory."

On the tea pot depicted is the image of generalissimo Josef

Stalin in his Kremlin office behind a table covered with maps.

Stalin

The cups carry portraits of the Communist Party, top military leadership and

war heroes, as well as genre scenes and quotes. Among the genre scenes are

memorable episodes of the Stalingrad Battle: squadrons fighting on front lines,

tank and infantry attacks, soldiers writing letters to comrade Stalin. Among

those depicted on the tea set are: Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, party leaders

Anastas Mikoyan, Nikita Khrushev, Georgy Malenkov, Nikolay Bulganin,

Vyacheslav Molotov, Lazar Kaganovich, marshals Aleksander Vasilevsky,

Semyon Budenny, Kliment Voroshilov, Konstantin Rokossovsky, Andrey

Eremenko, Nikolay Voronov, Vasily Chuykov, and Fyodor Tolbukhin,.

Vasilevsky

M.M.Kaganovich.

Rokossovsky

USSR Minister of Interior Lavrenty Beria

Collection custodian:

“We mentioned 15 names. On one of the cups, there is no portrait.

Interestingly enough, the image on the cup was erased, just like the

corresponding text, which comprised a quote by the ‘erased’ individual…

This individual Politburo member Lavrenty Beria, who, soon after Stalin’s

death, received a death sentence for conspiracy and was executed. Immediately,

craftsmen hurried to erase Beria’s image from the tea set, which was at that

time publically exhibited among the gifts to Josef Stalin.

Also interesting to note is that you will not see one of the mightiest of

military officers of the Great Patriotic War, Marshal of Victory Georgy

Zhukov, in this gallery… The author of the tea set very carefully avoided

painting the four time Hero of the Soviet Union, winner of two ‘Victory’

medals and at that time, Stalin’s ‘disgraced’ commander, on the cup.”

Marshal Georgy Zhukov, 1945

reference:

In 1946, Georgy Zhukov, who, just a year before, had reviewed the Victory

Parade on a white horse, was accused of illegal acquisition of awards and

exaggeration of his part in Hitler's demise. Stalin personally termed it as such:

"He claimed the planning of an operation, to which he had no relation."

During the hearings, all of the military commanders, except for one, supported

Zhukov. Despite that, Zhukov was accused of "bonapartism," was removed

from the post of Chief of Army Staff and was appointed as an ordinary Odessa

corps commander. Later Georgy Zhukov wrote a book: "Memories and

Contemplation," which was published in 1969. But Zhukov did not write about

his complaints in his memoires: he used the book to write about the history of

the Great Victory and when he discussed Stalin, he showed extreme respect

toward him.