A VISIT CARD OF ALEXANDER PUSHKIN FROM THE ALBUM Z.I.YUSUPOVA
Saint Petersburg
1830s
Thin cardboard, lithography
3,9 х 7,4 cm
Receipt: from the Leningrad Museum Fund in 1929
Showcase 2
Business (visit) cards appeared in Ancient China. They contained the name and position of the owner. From the XVIII Century business (visit) cards become a mandatory attribute of etiquette of relationships within the Society.
Visit cards of the Pushkins’ are part of the album, which belonged to Z.I.Yusupova. Zinaida Ivanovna Yusupova (1810–1893), born Naryshkina, since 1827 – wife of the Hoffmeister (Chamberlain) Prince Yusupov.
In 1828 Prince P.A.Vyazemsky wrote to his wife from Petersburg describing dance evening at E.I.Golitsyna’s, "embellished by Yusupova" and attended by Alexander S.Pushkin. On the same album page were placed visit cards of the Marquis Velepolsky (1803–1877), a Polish statesman; Prince P.A.Vyazemsky (1792–1878), a poet and a statesman; Countess E.P.Rostopchina (1811/12–1858) – a poetess, her poetic talent was highly appraised by A.S.Pushkin and I.A.Krylov (1769–1844), a fabulist and a journalist; Baroness E.N.Gekkern-Dantes, born Goncharova (1809–1843), a sister of Natalia N.Pushkina.
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