An unmarked Russian figure depicting Deer-raising Chukchi, ca 1900.

The Gardner factory in Moscow started to produce the ‘People of Russia’ series in the 1870’s, the complete series consists of approximately 50 figures. The series were based on colour lithographies from a book published 1861 by T de Pauli. The book was called ‘Description Ethnografique des peoples de la Russie’, and was presented at the celebration of the Russian Empire millennium. It gives us a broad coverage of the people under the Russian Emperors reign, showing subjects ranging from Hindus, Balkans, Greeks all the way to the Siberians and the Russian Americans. This series follows the tradition of the J.D. Rachette series of the Imperial porcelain manufactory (1780’s). The figures truly are like small sculptures, all very individual.

The Chukchi people - are an indigenous people inhabiting the Chukchi Peninsula and the shores of the Chukchi Sea and the Bering Sea region of the Arctic Ocean within the Russian Federation. They speak the Chukchi language. The Chukchi originated from the people living around the Okhotsk Sea.