Zacharias Deichmann

German jeweller, goldsmith, silversmith. Hallmark: ZD in a rectangle. Born in the town of Olonets in Karelia (1709). Studied in Moscow (1720s), where he qualified as an apprentice. Admitted into the guild of foreign masters in St Petersburg (1731). Trained nine apprentices (from 1737). Oversaw the construction of a silver shrine over the tomb of St Alexander Nevsky in the St Alexander Nevsky Monastery (1747–52). Created a chandelier for the Evangelical Lutheran Church of St Mary and gilded ornaments for the Church of the Annunication (1750s). Worked on many imperial commissions for Catherine the Great (1760–66), including a silver service for the Orlov brothers (1763), Tsarskoe Selo Service (1765) and a solid-silver soup tureen in the shape of a fourteen-gun warship for the Black Sea Fleet (1766). Died in St Petersburg (1776), where his work was continued by his widow, son and brother (late 18th century). Contributed to exhibitions, including Golden Treasure Trove of the Russian Museum at the Russian Museum in St Petersburg (1998), St Petersburg: A Portrait of the City and its Citizens at the Russian Museum in St Petersburg (2003), Russian Silver of the 18th–20th Centuries from the Collection of the Moscow Kremlin Museums at the Samara Regional Museum of Art in Samara (2007–08) and Gold: Metal of Gods and King of Metals at the History Museum in Moscow (2012).