The Country (Prigorodnyi) Service was the first cut lead glass service produced at the Imperial Glassworks. The glassware was commissioned by the Cabinet of Emperor Alexander I (reigned 1801-1825) in August 1823, and replacements were added throughout the 1800s. Although intended for use at the Great Peterhof Palace, it is called the Country Service because it was eventually used at several palaces in the countryside beyond St. Petersburg. Ivanov was named chief designer (inventor) at the Imperial Glassworks in 1819; nonetheless, he is far better known as a graphic artist. His skill as a graphic artist can been seen in the variety of straight and curvilinear elements in this design, all of which provide hundreds of tiny angles and corners intended to reflect candlelight and to intensify the brilliant glow of the cut lead glass at the table.

Bequest of Marjorie Merriweather Post, 1973

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