CAST BY WOERFFEL, AFTER THE MODEL BY VASILII GRACHEV, LATE 19TH CENTURY

These rare models of Ivan the Terrible and his boyar were part of the series called The Tsar's Hunt. They are based on a scene from Alexey Tolstoy's novel The Silver Prince, where Ivan the Terrible is being informed by his falconer that his hawk has flown away during the hunt. Grachev also produced a large bronze group on the same subject, which incorporates both models. A comparable model of a Boyar of Ivan the Terrible was sold at Sotheby's, London, 8 June 2011, lot 625.