VASILIJ STIEPANOVICH BATASHEV, Samovar

Plated, hallmarked (in Cyrillic TULA / VASILIJ STIEPANOVICH BATASHEV); height 57 cm, width 46 cm, depth 29 cm.
Tula, k. XIX century.
Cup-shaped samovar supported on four legs and a profiled foot with an openwork air damper; knocked-down water container with a faucet in the lower part, with two handles of blackened wood set vertically in sleeves decorated with stylized acanthus volutes; lid with an opening for steam escape and two handles called cones for its removal; topped with an openwork crown on which a teapot with essence is placed. There are faintly legible medallion impressions on the lid.
At the end of the 19th century, there were more than a dozen samovar factories owned by the Batashevs in Tule. The largest was the Vasily Stepanovich Batashev factory, founded in 1840 (later as the company "Heirs of V. S. Batashev"). Batashev's samovars were very successful not only in Russia and were often awarded medals at numerous exhibitions.