Russian tailor’s apprentices

Studio portrait of three Russian boys, a tailor’s apprentices, one of whom stands and two of whom are sitting on a trestle table, mending clothes.

Photographer: Jean Monstein studio (St. Petersburg, Russia), labelled ‘J. Monstein’
Date of photograph: 1860s
Continent: Europe
Geographical area: Central and Eastern Europe
Country: Russia
Region/Place: St. Petersburg
Cultural group: European Russian
Format: Carte de visite
Size: 103 x 60 mm
Acquisition: Joan Evans. Donated August 1941

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Primary documentation: ‘[p.588] Dr. JOAN EVANS, from the property of the late SIR ARTHUR EVANS, Youlbury, Boars Hill, Oxford. [List of items follows]’; ‘[p.590] 29 Photographs of Russian types, in box’: Pitt Rivers Museum accession records (Donations X, 1937–1941), pp.588, 590. Notes on mount: ‘J. Monstein Phot.’ (printed on mount card).

Research notes: This carte de visite has been identified as a photograph by J. Monstein [according to the Latin alphabet, I. Monstein in the Cyrillic], taken from the stamped information in Russian on the reverse. Jean Monstein’s studio is described as being located ‘at the corner of Bolshaya Morskaya [street] and Nevsky [Prospect]’ in St. Petersburg. The subjects have been identified by Philip Grover as a ‘tailor’s apprentices’, from a captioned photograph by Monstein of the same individuals in a collection elsewhere.