After the great October Revolution in Russia, the Bolsheviks picked 471 items from the countries’ primary art collections to be sold abroad. The wide list of items contained 46 gold gemstone encrusted snuffboxes, 14 precious trellises, 37 masterpieces of pictorial art, and 133 engravings. Over the next few years thousands of priceless exhibits were sold from the Hermitage and other museums. According to official data, in the most "fruitful" 1930, the USSR sold 577 thousand paintings and other pieces of art abroad.
In September 1928, many other masterpieces including “Portrait of an Elderly Woman” by Rembrandt, “Portrait of an Elderly Lady” by Rubens, “Obstacle” by Watteau and “Annunciation” by Bowes were sold off.
