Marjorie Merriweather Post (1887-1973), heiress to the Post Cereal fortune, became a serious collector of French decorative art in the early 1920s. Her extended stay in Moscow as the wife of Joseph E. Davies, FDR's ambassador to the Soviet Union, sparked a passion for Russian art that continued until her death. Ultimately she formed the most comprehensive imperial Russian collection outside Russia.

Mrs. Post's collection at Hillwood, her grand residence in Washington, D.C., includes paintings, furniture by such masters as Jean-Henri Riesener and David Roentgen, porcelain from Sevres and the Russian Imperial Porcelain Factory, objets d'art by Faberge (two superb imperial Easter eggs) and Cartier, and much more.

At Hillwood, Mrs. Post displayed her Russian acquisitions in the context of her French decorative art. In this publication, Russian objects have been placed in their European context, allowing for the unique opportunity to rediscover the interaction of creative design between Russia and western Europe.