A little on the small side, making it good for both tea and coffee service. Stands about 3 ¼" tall, 2 ½" wide. In thick glazed faience or porcelain, hand-painted all around the side. Uncommonly, a thin sky-blue band rims the lip of the cup on the inside. Looking at the artwork, the overall impression is that it was made as a local presentational item in commemoration of the Konakovo "GRES" ("ГРЭС"), which is the Russian acronym for State Regional Electric Power Station. It is safe to assume that there was only a very limited number of these cups made. Maker mark

A little on the small side, making it good for both tea and coffee service. Stands about 3 ¼" tall, 2 ½" wide. In thick glazed faience or porcelain, hand-painted all around the side. Uncommonly, a thin sky-blue band rims the lip of the cup on the inside. Looking at the artwork, the overall impression is that it was made as a local presentational item in commemoration of the Konakovo "GRES" ("ГРЭС"), which is the Russian acronym for State Regional Electric Power Station. It is safe to assume that there was only a very limited number of these cups made. Maker marked on the bottom. This version of the graphic of the logo was in use from 1962 to 1974 (fig. # 366 in Volume One of Marks on Soviet Porcelain, Faience, and Majolica, 1917-1991 by Nasonova et al).

In good condition. There is a bit of craquelure on the outside and more of it on the inside. The artwork is exceptionally clean, clear and bright under the glaze. There is a small chip to the glaze on the right side of the handle, close to its top. Other than that, the cup is truly a joy to behold despite the industrial content of the artwork.

The Konakovo Faience Factory was founded in 1809 in the village of Kuznetsovo and prospered until the death of its founder, A. Auerbach. Auerbach's heirs were not as successful in running the business, and in 1870 the factory and all its debt were bought out by Matvey Kuznetsov who by then was in porcelain and faience business and very successful. Curiously, it was by pure coincidence that his last name was the same as the name of the village. When Bolsheviks came to power, the factory was nationalized and continued to grow, manufacturing a wide assortment of utilitarian, propagandistic, presentational and purely artistic items in faience and porcelain. The factory did not handle the economic changes of the post-Soviet period well. It went into bankruptcy and was closed in 2006.

Please note that the teaspoon in our last photo is for size reference only.
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