The Bull and Bear on Pertsova House: From Malyutin’s Casket to Majolica

Sergei Malyutin’s casket is carved with a bull and bear locked in combat, the monogram ‘SM’ and the date 1904. The same scene appeared in majolica on the gable of Pertsova House facing the Moskva River; construction of the house began in 1906. This single façade detail reveals how a design for a small object became part of a rental apartment building.

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What connects the casket and the panel?

The casket and the panel share a composition depicting a bull and a bear grappling. Alexandra Troshinskaya compared the two works in a 2007 article prepared with the assistance of Tretyakov Gallery staff member V. S. Shevchenko. The article identifies the object as part of the gallery’s collection: on its lid, the animals appear beneath a tented roof with a sun and horse-head finials, while the artist’s signature and the year are carved at the bottom right. Troshinskaya writes that the scene was repeated on the façade with minor changes.

The date of the casket provides an important reference point: Sergey Malyutin developed this motif before the design competition for Pertsova House, announced in 1905. We can say that the artist revisited his own composition, but the sources cited do not describe the process by which the carved lid became a design for architectural ceramics. Nor does the signature on the casket establish who executed the carving.

How did the design end up on a rental apartment building?

Pyotr Pertsov chose Malyutin’s sketch for the building. Historical and cultural expert assessment report clarifies the circumstances: in 1905, the client held an invitation-only competition for a design ‘in the Russian style’. First prize went to Apollinary Vasnetsov. On the artist’s advice, the Murava craft cooperative was commissioned to produce the majolica decorations. The building’s plan was developed jointly with municipal architect Nikolay Zhukov.

A building erected on the site in 1885 was incorporated into the present house. Construction began in 1906, with Pertsov personally overseeing the work. By April 1907, the finishing work was complete and the flats were advertised to let; the first residents moved in that May. Artists’ studios occupied the top floor. Malyutin’s carved motif found its way onto the façade of a building that served as both a home and a workplace. For this rental property project, the client engaged an artist who also worked in the applied arts.

The Murava craft cooperative was founded in 1904; its members were mainly former and current students of the Stroganov School. It carried out the façade commission, which Troshinskaya describes as the cooperative’s first major success. Malyutin’s involvement in the artistic design and the selection of the makers is confirmed; the heritage protection document does not name the craftspeople who made this ceramic composition. The decorative majolica panel is included among the building’s officially protected features, so the ceramics are also recognised as part of the historic façade.

What changed when the design was translated into majolica?

On Pertsova House, the scene became a large, colourful panel intended to be viewed from the street. On the façade facing the Moskva River, the bull and bear occupy a triangular gable; on the 1904 casket, the scene covers the lid, which can be examined at close quarters. According to Troshinskaya’s description, golden sunflowers were added to the lower part of the façade version.

The study notes that the scene was repeated with changes, but provides no information on whether the craftspeople took a mould directly from the casket. For another panel by Malyutin, depicting an old Russian town, the researcher suggests that a mould may have been taken from a wooden original. For the main scene on the pediment, this method of transfer remains unproven.

The sources cited also offer no reliable explanation of whom exactly the bull and bear were intended to represent. What the two objects and the history of the commission do reveal is a connection with the artist’s practice: Malyutin used a familiar fairy-tale scene to decorate an urban residential building.

Where can you see this detail?

Pertsova House stands at 1 Kursovoy Lane, near Prechistenskaya Embankment and Soymonovsky Proyezd. The bull-and-bear panel is located in the triangular gable of the façade facing the Moskva River, beneath the sun symbol. The figures look small in a photograph of the whole building; examine the pediment separately to make them out.

Pertsova House is included on the route of the ‘Golden Mile’ tour along Ostozhenka and Prechistenka. Others private tours offered by the bureau are featured on the home page. In the next instalment of ‘Moscow in One Detail’, we will explore another detail of the city that is easy to walk past.

Sources

1. Alexandra Troshinskaya. Sergei Malyutin’s Ceramic Fairy Tale (2007)
2. State Historical and Cultural Expert Assessment Report on Pertsova House, 2022
3. Photograph of Pertsova House viewed from the embankment, A.Savin
4. Photograph of the majolica decoration on Pertsova House, Aleksandra057
5. ‘Golden Mile’ Tour of Ostozhenka and Prechistenka
6. Facade murals of Murava art workshop, Russian Mayolica
7. Radius Tour Bureau: private tours of Moscow