Table Lamp with Insignia of Soviet Republics
A gift to Joseph Stalin from the staff of the “Gus-Khrustalny
(Crystal Goose)” factory, 1939
The Soviet leader received this gift for his 60th birthday. This is quite a large crystal
lamp, 55cm high, mushroom shaped with a classical “Kremlin” form. The vase was
made at the famous Soviet glass factory “Gus-Khrustalny (Crystal Goose),” situated
in the Vladimir region of about 200 km from Moscow.
The selenium and copper ruby-coloured crystal lamp shade carries the insignia of
the United Republics of the USSR. In 1939, the Soviet Union was made up of eleven
United Republics. Apart from the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic (RSFSR),
the Union comprised Ukrainian, Belorussian, Uzbek, Turkmen, Tadjik, Azerbaijan, Armenian,
Georgian, Kazakh and Kyrgyz Soviet Socialist Republics. It was only a year later that the
Baltic States, as well as Moldova and the Karelia-Finnish SSR, became part of the Soviet
Union to increase the number of Soviet republics to sixteen.
Collection custodian:
“It was here at this factory in the town of Gus-Khrustalny that, along with glassware
masterpieces, another item was manufactured, which at one time or the other, came into every
Soviet citizen’s hand: this was the celebrated faceted glass. The design of this glass is
attributed to Vera Mukhina, the artist behind the monumental sculpture ‘Worker and Farmer
Woman.’ The faceted glass was designed specially for Soviet diners.”