The remarkable art of ancient Russian jewelers of the era of Yaroslav the Wise and Vladimir Monomakh amazed European travelers who visited Rus' in those days. Over the centuries it was forgotten. However, through the efforts of domestic archaeologists in the 19th-20th centuries, the creations of ancient masters found new life. Hundreds and thousands of jewelry created by craftsmen of the 10th - early 13th centuries were extracted from the ground. Exhibited in museum windows, they are capable of enchanting the modern fashionista and arousing the deep, sincere admiration of the artist.
In ancient times, Rus' was influenced by several developed cultures at once. In medieval Kyiv, entire neighborhoods were inhabited by foreigners: Greeks, Jews and Armenians. Severe warriors and clever traders from Scandinavia brought the subtle pagan art of the Viking Age to the Russian lands. Traders from the East - a colorful and intricate pattern so beloved in Islamic countries. Finally, Christianity, adopted from the powerful Byzantine Empire, spread out on the shores of the Mediterranean and Black Seas, connected Rus' with the high artistic culture of this state. Byzantium was at that time the beacon of civilization in barbaric Europe and the keeper of ancient knowledge bequeathed by the era of antiquity. But along with Christianity, Rus' for several centuries retained persistent pagan traditions. The complex, highly developed religious system of East Slavic paganism became an important source of creative imagination of ancient Russian painters, sculptors and jewelers.
The Mongol-Tatar invasion turned out to be disastrous for many secrets jewelry art. The masters who owned them disappeared during the hard times of Batu’s defeat or were kidnapped by the Horde to serve their rulers. For a whole century, the skill of ancient Russian jewelers was in decline, and only in the middle - second half of the 14th century. its slow revival began.
Jewelry technicians
In the era when Kyiv was the capital of the Old Russian state, Eastern Slavic women loved to decorate themselves with a lot of jewelry. Cast silver rings with ornaments, twisted silver wire bracelets, glass bracelets and, of course, beads were in fashion. They were very diverse: from colored glass, rock crystal, carnelians and rubies, large hollow beads made of cast gold. Hanging from them were round or moon-shaped bronze pendants (lunars), decorated with subtle ornaments: unprecedented magical animals in the Scandinavian style, complex wicker structures, very reminiscent of the images on Arab dirhams - coins that were in circulation in those days both in Rus' and in Europe .
But the most popular jewelry were temple rings. Cast silver temple rings were woven into women's hairstyle at the temples or hung from headdresses, they were worn one or several pairs at once. Each East Slavic tribe that became part of the Kyiv state had its own special type of temple rings, unlike the same decorations of its neighbors. Northern women, for example, wore an elegant variety of rings that looked like a curl or a flattened spiral. The Radimichs preferred the temporal rings, which had seven rays diverging from the arch, ending in drop-shaped thickenings. On the temple rings of the Vyatichi, which were among the most decorative, there were seven flat blades instead of rays.
Townswomen of the 11th-13th centuries. Most of all, they loved kolta - paired hollow gold and silver pendants, which were attached with chains or ribbons to the headdress. Many colts that have survived to this day are distinguished by their amazing perfection of shape. In 1876, near the village of Terehovo, Oryol province, several pairs of kolts from the 12th - early 13th centuries were discovered in a rich treasure. They are massive five-rayed stars, densely covered with thousands of tiny soldered balls of metal. This type of jewelry technique is called granulation; it came from Scandinavia and was widespread in Ancient Rus'. Along with grain, filigree was also used: the thinnest silver or gold wire, twisted into strands, soldered onto plates or twisted into openwork patterns. In 1887, another treasure was found on the territory of the ancient St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery jewelry XI-XII centuries, including a pair of gold colts. Colts were decorated freshwater pearls and images of fantastic birds with female heads. The colors of the images have not lost their brightness, and their combination is extremely exquisite: white, turquoise, dark blue and bright red. Meanwhile, the master who created this splendor died about eight centuries ago. Mikhailovsky kolta are made using the masterly jewelry technique of cloisonné enamel, which was adopted from the Byzantines. This forgotten art required patience and amazing precision in work. On the surface of the gold jewelry, the jeweler soldered the thinnest gold ribbons-partitions onto the edge, forming the outline of the future design. Then the cells between them were filled with enamel powders of different colors and heated to high temperature. This produced a bright and very durable glassy mass. Products made using the cloisonne enamel technique were very expensive, so it is no coincidence that most of the works that have survived to this day are parts of expensive princely attire.
Another favorite technique of ancient Russian jewelers was blackening, which, according to some scientists, was a Khazar heritage. Cherni was a complex alloy of tin, copper, silver, sulfur and other components. Applied to a silver surface, the niello created the background for a raised image. Blackening was especially often used to decorate folded bracelets. Several dozen such bracelets from the 12th century. kept in the State Historical Museum. On them it is easy to distinguish the figures of musicians, dancers, warriors, eagles and fantastic monsters. The plot of the drawings is far from Christian ideas and much closer to paganism. This is not surprising. Jewelers used enamel or niello both for the image of Christ, the Virgin Mary, saints, and for griffins, dog-headed monsters, centaurs and pagan festivals.
There were both purely Christian and purely pagan jewelry, which were objects of religious cults. Many encolpion breast crosses have been preserved, consisting of two wings, between which pieces of the relics of saints were placed. On the doors there was usually a cast, carved or blackened image of the Mother of God and Child. No less often, archaeologists find pagan amulets - objects that protected against illness, misfortune and witchcraft. Many of them are cast figurines of horse heads, to which “bells” made in the shape of animals, birds, spoons, knives and grips are attached in chains. With their ringing, the bells were supposed to ward off evil spirits.
"Hryvnia of Vladimir Monomakh"
Some monuments of ancient Russian jewelry art have gained enormous fame. Articles and books are written about them, their photographs are placed in albums dedicated to the culture of pre-Mongol Rus'. The most famous is the “Chernigov hryvnia”, or “the hryvnia of Vladimir Monomakh”. This is a chased gold medallion of the 11th century, the so-called serpentine, on one side of which a female head is depicted in a ball of eight snakes, symbolizing the devil, a pagan deity or the evil spirit in general. A prayer in Greek is directed against the disease. On the other side is the Archangel Michael, called upon to protect the owner of the hryvnia from the devil’s machinations. The inscription, made in Slavic letters, reads: “Lord, help your servant Vasily.” It was a real Christian amulet against evil spirits. The plot and the very technique of performing the serpentine torcs were borrowed from Byzantium; in pre-Mongol times, decorations of this kind were not uncommon. The “Chernigov hryvnia” was made with extraordinary skill and must have belonged to a rich, noble person, most likely of princely origin. The cost of this jewelry is equal to the size of the princely tribute from an average city.
The medallion was found in 1821 near the city of Chernigov, in ancient times the capital of the principality. The inscription indicating the identity of the owner - Vasily - told historians that the hryvnia belonged to Vladimir Monomakh (1053-1125), who was given the name Vasily at baptism. This famous ancient Russian commander and politician reigned for some time in Chernigov. He left a “Teaching” to the children, written in the form of memoirs. In this essay, the prince wrote that one of his favorite pastimes was hunting. When going out onto it, Vladimir Monomakh was not afraid of boar tusks and elk hooves. While hunting not far from Chernigov, he dropped a precious hryvnia, which brought to posterity the work of skilled Kyiv craftsmen.
Names on metal
The vast majority of monuments of jewelry art of Ancient Rus' are anonymous. Archaeologists, finding the remains of workshops that belonged to ancient Russian gold and silversmiths, extracted from the ground all the supplies necessary for the jewelry craft. However, history has not preserved the names of the wonderful craftsmen who created the “Chernigov hryvnia” or the kolta from the Mikhailovsky treasure. Sometimes only the jewels themselves “let slip” about their creators. Thus, craters - precious silver bowls for holy water, created in medieval Novgorod in the 12th century - bear inscriptions that give the names of the masters Costa and Bratila.
The famous Polotsk enlightener of the 12th century. Princess Abbess Efrosinia in 1161 ordered a cross for contribution to the Spassky Monastery she founded. The six-pointed cross, about half a meter high, was made of cypress wood and covered at the top and bottom with gold plates decorated precious stones. Already by the 20s. XX century almost all the stones were lost, but it is known that there were about two dozen of them and among them were grenades. The stones were mounted in sockets on gold plates, and between them the master inserted twenty enamel miniatures depicting saints. The name of each saint is minted next to the image. Christian relics were kept inside the cross: the blood of Jesus Christ, pieces of the relics of Saints Stephen and Panteleimon, as well as the blood of Saint Demetrius. The shrine was covered with silver and gilded plates, and the edges of the front side were framed with a string of pearls. In the eyes of believers, relics made the cross more valuable than the gold and silver used by the jeweler.
The fate of the cross of St. Euphrosyne of Polotsk, which in turn was in the hands of Orthodox, Catholics, Uniates, in the treasury of the Moscow sovereigns and the cache of the French who occupied Polotsk in 1812, is sad. It was lost during the war of 1941-1945, and was searched for by journalists, writers, scientists, politicians and even Interpol (International Crime Stoppers). The history of these searches is as dramatic and inconclusive as, for example, the epic associated with the famous Amber Room (the walls and all the furnishings of which were decorated with amber), stolen by the Nazis during the same war and since then unsuccessfully sought by scientists.
Descriptions and drawings made before the disappearance of the cross of St. Euphrosyne preserved the text of the inscription that was left on the surface of the cross by its creator, the Polotsk master Lazar Bogsha (Boguslav). The Cross of St. Euphrosyne is one of the main spiritual shrines of Belarus and a recognized masterpiece of medieval jewelry art.
Nowadays, temple rings, colts and many other works of medieval Russian jewelry are collected in museums. Particularly rich collections belong to the State Historical Museum, the Armory Chamber of the Moscow Kremlin and the Patriarchal Sacristy.
The jewelry art of Rus' impressed both the masters of ancient Europe and modern designers, who are increasingly borrowing ancient techniques and jewelry to create their own masterpieces. Thus, temple rings and kolta, widespread in Rus', smoothly transformed into large earrings, and amulets and hryvnias came into fashion in the form of pendants, and all this together with the techniques of blackening, filigree and cloisonne enamel, which are used to this day.
Vintage techniques
The jewelry art of Ancient Rus' has amazed Europeans since ancient times, because work and decoration were influenced not only by Western technologies - the intersection with eastern merchants also played a decisive role in the development of Russian craftsmanship. True, in contrast to the exquisite geometric patterns that were most often used in the East, Russian designers mixed various techniques, producing products with an unusual flavor.
One of the most famous trends can be considered grain, when thousands of small metal beads were fused onto one product, creating magic game light without the use of precious stones. At the same time, the basics of jewelry work were performed using casting: wax was used for more expensive and one-piece pieces, and stone molds were used for consumer products.
Thanks to the use of filigree, applied and openwork techniques, a light, dynamic relief ornament was created. IN modern world this is called filigree, and recently bracelets using similar technology(for example, in the 2010 season, such things can be found at Sabrina's Wide Ornate Diamond CZ Brace). In the 12th century, when the production of consumer goods increased, engraving and blackening on silver became one of the most common works, while only the the background, while the picture itself remained light, this made it possible to create exquisite and sophisticated miniatures.
Jewelry exclusives of Ancient Rus'
Despite the fact that many works were lost during the Tatar-Mongol invasion, archaeologists managed to restore some truly unique jewelry. For example, kolta (paired hollow gold and silver pendants attached with chains or ribbons to the headdress), which were worn by city women in the 11th-13th centuries, can interest many fashionistas with their fine workmanship. Especially the Mikhailovsky gold kolta, decorated with freshwater pearls and images of fantastic birds with female heads using the cloisonné enamel technique.
No less famous is the “Chernigov hryvnia” (also known as the “Hryvnia of Vladimir Monomakh”), which was lost by the owner and later found by archaeologists. This 11th-century chased medallion depicts, on one side, a woman’s head in a ball of eight snakes with a prayer against disease in Greek, and on the other, the Archangel Michael, called upon to protect the owner of the hryvnia from the devil’s machinations. The finest workmanship of the medallion is so high that, according to the records of that time, it was estimated to be approximately the size of a princely tribute from an average city.
The rise of jewelry in the 18th century
It was in the 13th century in Russia that the term “jeweler” appeared instead of “gold and silversmith”, and thanks to new technologies and the active use of precious stones Gems: Eternity Fashion
Jewelry art in Ancient Rus' flourished already in the era of Yaroslav the Wise and Vladimir Monomakh (10th-early 13th centuries), striking with its beauty the European travelers who visited Rus' in those days.
Jewelry art in Rus' has rich history and is rooted in the ancient life of peasant settlements. It is interesting that the first craftsmen to make such products were women. That's who didn't have to worry about where to buy jewelry.
In those days they made different types jewelry. The process was as follows - women skillfully wove beautiful products from wired cords, covered them with clay and, after drying, annealed them in a special oven. In place of the burnt wax, molten silver or bronze was poured. The result was silver jewelry or intricate items made of bronze. They looked as if they were woven from metal thread.
If in pre-Christian Rus' the jewelry craft was the lot of women, then already in the 10th century men took up casting, using stone and clay molds. In addition to casting, engraving and chasing appear, and with them real designer jewelry.
Representatives of each tribe brought something original to the making of jewelry, peculiar only to them. A clear example of this is the “kolta” temple jewelry. Women wove them into their hair or attached them to their headdress - up to three pieces on each temple.
Gold and silversmiths, who eventually moved to the cities, mastered patterns and techniques that came from the north and east. Skilfully combining the traditions of their ancestors with new knowledge, jewelers preserved their own unique flavor, amazing with their works not only their own, but also our contemporaries. These are tiaras and crowns, barmas, hryvnias, kolta, bracelets, crosses, buckles.
In those distant times, the country was influenced by several developed cultures at once (Greek, Jewish, Armenian, Scandinavian, Islamic and, of course, Byzantine) (Figure 3.4). All this, of course, could not help but be reflected in jewelry, where the motifs of East Slavic paganism, the subtle art of the Viking Age, intricate oriental motifs and Christian elements are intricately intertwined.
Certain monuments of ancient Russian jewelry art have gained enormous popularity - articles and books are written about them, their photographs are placed in albums dedicated to the culture of pre-Mongol Rus'.
The Mongol-Tatar invasion turned out to be disastrous for many secrets of jewelry art. The masters who owned them disappeared during the hard times of Bato’s defeat or were stolen by the Horde to serve their rulers. For a whole century, the skill of ancient Russian jewelers was practically in decline, and only in the middle - second half of the 14th century. its slow revival began.
At the end of the 15th and beginning of the 16th century, a most important period began for Russia. The time of the Mongol-Tatar yoke ended and a centralized state was formed. Moscow has become the center of the country's political, economic and cultural life. Court ceremonies required magnificent decoration, which became an incentive for the rapid development of jewelry.
Figure 3. Pendant Figure 4. Cap of the Russian kingdom and royal crowns
Artists, carvers, gunsmiths, embroiderers and foundry workers came to the capital from all over the Russian land. In addition to Russian craftsmen, foreign artisans of various specialties also worked. Under Ivan IV the Terrible there were especially many of them, and the German Settlement was formed. The collaboration of Russian and Western European craftsmen had a huge influence on the jewelry art of Russia at that time. At the same time, the creativity of Moscow jewelers retained its national character.
The work of Russian jewelers could be seen during special embassy ceremonies, which were established by Ivan the Terrible and lasted until the end of the 17th century with only a few changes.
Foreigners who visited Russia left rave reviews in their notes about the work of Moscow jewelers. The luxury of the attributes of royal power - a golden scepter strewn with precious stones, the richest porphyry, a golden diadem and the throne of the Russian Tsar - brought foreigners into indescribable delight. And the gold clothes of the servants, which they changed three times during dinner, aroused amazement and envy. In general, the royal court, even under subsequent kings, was distinguished by pomp and luxury.
In Russian history, periods of rise alternated with decline. An example of this is the Polish-Swedish intervention of the early 17th century, during which the Kremlin storage facilities were pretty much emptied. At the end of 1612, when the enemies were driven out, a gradual revival began.
During the times of Rus' there was a flourishing of artistic crafts, a special place among which was occupied by metal processing, namely jewelry making. Kyiv became its center. The bases for metal products were made using casting techniques, which made it possible to create unique or mass-produced products. The former were made using wax models, and the latter using stone molds.
Gold and silver products, which were made in various techniques. Through the use of techniques called filigree, overhead and openwork, a dynamic and light relief ornament was created. The scanned patterns, as a rule, contained motifs of a circle, a rhombus and a triangle.
XXII-XIII centuries. - the period of greatest prosperity of jewelry art in Rus'. Then the masters mastered many new techniques - “grain”, “filigree”, and “filigree”. Thanks to them, they learned how to make amazing jewelry, for example, an original woven silver ring or curly earrings. New, previously unknown styles of jewelry are emerging.
The skill of ancient masters can hardly be overestimated. The Russian Museum houses ancient silver kolts. They are made in the form of an oval shield decorated with six cones. On each such cone there are 6 thousand small rings soldered, and on each silver ring the grains are soldered, that is, 30 thousand silver grains on the Colt alone. Modern jewelry can only vaguely resemble what our ancestors once made, although there are some that definitely fall under the concept of “Slavic style.”
Jewelry craft in Ancient Rus'.
Teacher Sizova O. A
- Women jewelers are more typical for pre-Christian Rus', since already in the 10th century men began to engage in casting, and clay and stone molds began to be used more often. Embossing and engraving are added to the casting.
- The jewelry art of Rus' reached its greatest flourishing in the 12th – 13th centuries.
- In ancient times, Rus' was influenced by several developed cultures at once.
- Severe warriors and clever traders from Scandinavia brought the subtle pagan art of the Viking Age to the Russian lands. Traders from the East - colorful and intricate designs. Finally, Christianity connected Rus' with the high artistic culture of Byzantium.
- Eastern Slavic women loved to decorate themselves with a lot of jewelry. Cast silver rings with ornaments, twisted silver wire bracelets, glass bracelets and, of course, beads were in fashion.
- They were very diverse: from colored glass, rock crystal, carnelians and rubies, large hollow beads made of cast gold. They were hung with round or moon-shaped bronze pendants (moons), decorated with subtle ornaments: unprecedented magical animals in the Scandinavian style, complex wicker structures.
- But the most popular jewelry were temple rings. Cast silver temple rings were woven into women's hairstyles at the temples or hung from headdresses; they were worn one or several pairs at a time.
- Each East Slavic tribe that became part of the Kyiv state had its own special type of temple rings.
Mikhailovsky treasure
- In 1887, on the territory of the ancient St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery, a treasure trove of jewelry from the 11th-12th centuries was found, including a pair of gold colts. The kolta were decorated with freshwater pearls and images of fantastic birds with women's heads. The colors of the images have not lost their brightness, and their combination is extremely exquisite: white, turquoise, dark blue and bright red.
- Over the centuries, the jewelry craftsmanship of ancient Rus' was forgotten. However, through the efforts of domestic archaeologists in the 19th-20th centuries, the creations of ancient masters found a new life. Hundreds and thousands of jewelry created by craftsmen of the 10th - early 13th centuries were extracted from the ground.
- Exhibited in museum windows, they are capable of enchanting the modern fashionista and arousing the deep, sincere admiration of the artist.
Jewelry craft
World jewelry art began with jewelry that was originally made from bone, seashells, etc. But in the 7th millennium BC. humanity invented the technique of mechanical processing of native stone, and in the 5th millennium BC. high-temperature melting of copper in furnaces and casting techniques appeared. Jewelry art is beginning to develop rapidly.
On this page we will introduce you to traditional jewelry technologies that existed during the times Kievan Rus and have survived to this day - such as casting, forging, embossing, embossing, niello, gilding, inlay, wire drawing, filigree and granulation.
Foundry
One of the most important methods of processing copper, silver and their alloys was casting. Due to its high cost, this technique, which required massive objects, was almost never used for gold, with the exception of small things. There are no fundamental differences between casting copper, bronze, brass, silver, and other alloys. Casting was the main method of metal processing by the village "smiths of copper and silver."
Casting in an ancient Russian village
Casting is the oldest technique, known to the population of Eastern Europe since the Bronze Age. The metal was melted in clay crucibles with the participation of bellows, which increased the temperature of the forge. Then the molten metal (or alloy of metals) was scooped out of the crucibles with a clay spoon, which had a special name “lyachka” (from the verb “to pour”). Lyachki were most often made with a spout for draining molten metal and a clay sleeve into which a wooden handle was inserted. The bottle with metal was heated over a fire, and then the liquid metal was poured into the casting mold; it was necessary to fill all its recesses with metal. When the poured mold cooled, a metal product was removed from it, exactly replicating the casting mold. The shapes and volumes of ancient Russian crucibles are varied. The capacity of the crucibles ranged from large volumes of 400 cc to small volumes of 10 cc. Crucibles could be round-bottomed or sharp-bottomed, less often flat-bottomed. The most common were cone-shaped crucibles with a rounded bottom. Crucibles were made of clay mixed with sand and fireclay.
Almost all casting molds were single-sided. Such forms were covered on top with smooth tiles, most often made of limestone. The front side of objects produced in this form was embossed, and the back side (which touched the stone tiles) was smooth.
Casting could be done in single-sided molds and without a smooth lid, directly in open molds. If both halves did not fit tightly against each other, then the metal seeped into the cracks and formed so-called casting seams, which were usually removed from the finished product. With a single-sided mold, these seams are located closer to the back flat side of the product. In order to make some kind of openwork pendant with slits in the middle, it was necessary to leave untouched in the mold when making it those places where there should be voids. Then these uncut places on the mold will be in close contact with the mold's overlay lid, and the metal will not penetrate there. If it was necessary to make a hole not in the plane of the thing itself, but, for example, an eyelet for hanging from a necklace, then for this purpose a channel was made in the mold, perpendicular to the casting, and an iron rod was inserted into this channel. The metal, pouring through the casting, flowed around the inserted rod, and when the rod was removed, a hole was created. The ornament, cut deep into the mold, naturally turned out to be convex on the finished item.
In addition to one-sided forms with a smooth lid, two-sided forms were also used, that is, those in which the second half was not smooth, but also figured. Sometimes both halves of the mold were made exactly the same, and the thing turned out to be symmetrical, with the casting seam going in the middle.
A soft clay mold was also used, which accurately conveyed all the details of the processing of the original model from which the mold was made. Clay forms are also known in cities - in Kyiv, in Chersonesos, but in cities they were not used as widely as in the countryside. In the city, the requirement for mass production forced the artisan to look for more durable materials than clay.
Very interesting and original casting on a wicker model. At first glance, things made using this technique seem to be woven from copper wires, but upon closer examination it turns out that they are cast. The wax model for such products was woven from waxed linen or wool cords, which easily stuck together and made it possible to weave complex patterns. The resulting wax model was doused with a liquid solution of clay, which enveloped all the thinnest recesses of the form. After the clay thickened, the model was poured several more times until a solid clay mold was obtained. The next task was to melt the wax and burn out the remaining cords.
This braided wax casting technique was widespread in the Northeast. In the Russian regions proper, this painstaking technique, which brought casting closer to lace knitting, did not enjoy much success.
Urban ancient Russian casting
In the early era of the development of the Russian city, many casting techniques were the same in city and village. For example, during the 9th-10th centuries. Urban foundries most often used wax casting, and only later did rigid casting molds appear.
The ease of making complex patterns on wax has always attracted the attention of craftsmen to this type of casting. The only obstacle was the fragility of the resulting casting mold, which, although it could withstand several castings, easily chipped and broke. In the IX-X centuries. This technique was used to make pendants for necklaces, belt plaques, clasps for caftans (Gulbishche) and heads for neck torcs. Compared to the rural technique of processing a wax model, the following differences can be distinguished: urban foundries cut out the model with special cutters, not content with just extruding the pattern, which was used by rural craftsmen. Wax carving gave a bright play of light and shadow and made it possible to significantly increase the artistic expressiveness of the cast product. The lost form method was also used in the 11th-13th centuries. for casting the most complex objects.
An important improvement in foundry was the discovery of the method of double-sided casting using two wax models, which was widely used in the 12th century.
Another type of foundry is casting in rigid molds.
The materials for making casting molds were various types of slate (including pink slate), occasionally limestone, and at the end of the pre-Mongol period - mainly lithographic stone, which allowed for particularly careful finishing. Very rarely, and only for tin casting, bronze casting molds were used.
Most stone casting molds are double-sided with very carefully ground surfaces to eliminate casting seams. To ensure the correct alignment of both halves, sockets were drilled in the casting molds, of which one was filled with a lead pin, adjusted so that it fit tightly into the free groove of the second half. This ensured the immobility of both forms. To cast three-dimensional objects with complex relief ornamentation, Kyiv jewelers invented three-part molds.
According to the nature of the finishing, all casting molds can be divided into molds with embedded lines and molds with convex lines. In the first case, the master did not need special care: he simply cut deep into the stone. On finished product a relief pattern was obtained.
Forging and minting
These techniques are most widespread in the city.
In most cases, various utensils were forged from copper and silver. The goldsmith cast a flat cake from silver (or copper), and then began to forge it on an anvil from the middle to the edges. Thanks to this technique, the thing gradually took on a hemispherical shape. By intensifying the blows in certain areas and leaving some places less forged, the master achieved the desired contour of the thing. Sometimes a tray was riveted to the bowls (the edges were rounded), and a chased ornament was applied to the rim and body. An example of forged silver utensils is the silver gilded charm of the Chernigov prince Vladimir Davydovich, found in the Tatar capital Sarai.
Forging work in jewelry technology was widely used for a wide variety of purposes. Of particular note is the forging of thin sheets of silver and gold for various crafts. Goldsmiths achieved the greatest virtuosity in the manufacture of gold plates for cloisonne enamel. The thickness of the gold leaf is measured in such plates not only in tenths, but even in hundredths of a millimeter.
The forging of silver and copper is almost inextricably linked with the coining of these metals. The embossing technique can be divided into three types: small-punch ornamental embossing, flat embossing and relief embossing. For some works, all types of coinage were used, but each of these types has its own technical characteristics and its own history.
The simplest type of embossing is that the design is applied to the outer surface of the item using various punches. The plate to be decorated was placed on a hard lining and a pattern was applied, compacting the metal in the place of the pattern, but without making bulges on the back. The pattern was applied using punches various shapes: some looked like a small chisel, others gave an imprint in the form of a ring, circle, triangle, etc. The most complete form of minting with miniature punches can be traced from Smolensk and Chernigov materials of the 9th-10th centuries. The small-punch minting technique originated in northern Russian cities in the 9th-10th centuries. and existed there in the future.
The second type of embossed work - flat embossing - is characterized by the creation of any composition by recessing the background around the intended figures. The work is carried out with the same miniature punches, but only with the simplest design - a solid circle, a ring, a dash. This method of embossing is always combined with working with a chisel. The minting was carried out as follows: a forged thin sheet of silver was nailed to a smooth wooden board, the contour of the design was applied to it with light pressure from the cutter, and then the background around the contoured design was recessed downwards by repeated blows with a hammer on the punch, as a result of which the design became embossed. Typically, the height of the relief with this method was small - 0.5-1.5 mm, and the relief was flat.
Examples of flat coinage include the famous silver frame of a turye horn from Black Mogila. It is a unique monument of Russian jewelry art of the 10th century.
Flat-relief coinage prevailed among the ornamental techniques of the 10th - first half of the 11th centuries. Around the middle of the 11th century. it is partly replaced by a new, improved technique of stamping or embossing silver on special matrices, which later developed into a favorite technical technique - “bass stamping” (multiple use of one stamp in the same ornament). The embossing is preserved only when making unique custom-made items. But at the same time, master minters are not satisfied with punch or flat chasing, but work in a third way - the method of relief, convex chasing, which in ancient Rus' was called “armor work”.
The essence of convex coinage is that first the ornamented silver plate is minted with reverse side, squeezing the design outward with a sharp convex relief. Only after such embossing has produced a convex pattern on the front side, the front side is subjected to more detailed processing: clothes, face, hair are cut, and the general relief is corrected. In order not to tear the thin metal during such deep, convex embossing, the work is carried out on a special elastic cushion made of var, wax or resin. This technique was much more complex than simple obverse embossing. Armor coinage appears around the 12th century. Examples of this coinage are found mainly in Veliky Novgorod.
Embossing and stamping
The improvement and mechanization of the process of flat-relief coinage was the use of special stamps or matrices, with the help of which a relief design was imprinted on thin sheets of silver or gold. The technique of silver embossing acquired particular importance due to the widespread use of niello art, which required a protruding relief design and a recessed background.
Mostly silver was used for niello, as it gave a clear and bright pattern against the background of velvety niello. In order to carry out this play of silver and niello, ancient Russian craftsmen usually did this: a design was applied to a silver plate with a light outline, then the background around this design, intended for niello, was recessed in such a way that the design itself was higher than the background, as on the background plane a layer of blackening mass must be laid down. Embossing was done on thin sheets of gold, silver, and less often copper, by placing them on metal (copper, steel) matrices having a convex pattern. On top of the sheet on which the matrix design was to be imprinted, a lead plate was usually placed and this soft pad was struck with a wooden hammer, forcing the lead (and then the silver sheet) to fill all the recesses of the matrix. The plasticity of lead contributes to the exact repetition of the shape of the matrix on the processed silver sheet. At the end of the embossing, a plate with a double pattern is obtained: on the front side the pattern of the matrix is repeated, on the back - the same pattern, but in a negative form. Between matrix relief and relief finished products Some discrepancy is inevitable due to the thickness of the metal sheet. The thicker the sheet, the smoother and flatter the relief on the front side will be.
Of particular interest is the time when a new technique appeared, replacing painstaking chasing work. The time when the embossing technique appeared was the era of Olga and Svyatoslav - the middle of the 10th century. Most likely, the emergence of a new technical technique in the work of Russian city jewelers is connected to a certain extent with the influence of Byzantine culture and was one of positive results rapprochement with Byzantium.
Black
Enamel was used most often on gold, and niello was used in silver. “Where gold replaces silver, there enamel replaces niello.” For cloisonne enamel, silver is a second-class material due to the fact that it is less soft and malleable than gold, and melts more easily: the melting point of silver is 960.5 °, and the melting point gold 1063°. Therefore, it is more difficult for an enameller working with silver to make thin partitions for the enamel and solder them in an oven with the bottom of the tray so that they do not melt. During the process of making niello, such delicate operations were not performed.
The niello is best preserved in the recesses of the design, so the creation of a suitable bed for it was achieved most naturally through engraving. As a result, the master received a blackened drawing on a light background. Another way - blackening the background with a light pattern on it - involved deepening the surface for the black. In all these cases, gilding was also widely used.
All of the listed techniques - engraving, gilding, blackening - fundamentally changed little. Thus, chemical studies have shown that the blackening recipe described by Pliny the Elder passed from antiquity to metalworking of the early Middle Ages practically unchanged.
The first stage in the complex process of producing silver jewelry with niello was the production of the item itself, which was to be decorated with niello. Casting was used less often for this purpose. Only the tips of twisted bracelets and some rings with niello were cast, but in general, casting is not a very economical way of making things from precious metals. Typically, blackened items were made from a thin sheet of silver. To create a hollow body from it in a cold state, a very ancient method was used - hand-punching (difving). It is based on such a property of silver as viscosity, due to which the sheet processed by blows with a wooden hammer stretches, bends and takes on the required shape. This is how some colts and hoops were made for individual orders.
Mass production required more easy way. It turned out to be embossing on the matrix. The matrices, cast from copper alloys, had a convex outer surface and a flat inner surface. The first, when embossing, provided the plate with a convex surface, the second made it possible to tightly secure the matrix on the workbench. During excavations, similar matrices were found more than once. They differ only in greater or less thoroughness of execution.
The second stage in the manufacture of hoops was engraving - an art closely associated with the mob. Engraving is the carving of a design on metal, in which a linear design is applied to the metal using a steel cutter, or, as jewelers call it, a graver. The ancient engraved products that have come down to us differ from each other in the various traces left by the graver. In ancient Rus', as in the present day, craftsmen used gravers with a working edge of various shapes.
A radial needle is used to perform the first engraving operation - transferring a design from paper to metal. The plate on which the drawing must be transferred is fixed motionless on a special pillow. Such a cushion can be resin heated in a vessel, as is done during coinage. After this, a thin layer of wax is placed on the workpiece. The drawing, made with a pencil on tracing paper, is applied to the wax with the front side and lightly pressed down, which leaves an imprint on the wax. This operation could also look like this: a wooden stick with a pointed end is drawn along the lines of the drawing. When the paper is removed, the deep lines of the translated design remain on the wax.
It is difficult to say how the transfer of drawings onto metal was practically carried out in ancient times. One can only say that this process took place, as evidenced by the perfect engraving pattern of such subjects as complex braiding, impossible without a preliminary sketch and translation. The translation of the drawing easily explains the amazing closeness of the subjects engraved on hoops with the ornamental subjects of handwritten books of ancient Rus'. The design was passed along the line of the silver workpiece transferred to the wax surface with a radial needle, and it was finally fixed on the metal.
The final stage of work on the decoration with niello and engraving was the actual nielloing. The niello on ancient Russian jewelry varies in density and tone. Sometimes it looks black and velvet, sometimes it looks silver-gray with a slate tint. This depends on the different formulations, the intricacies of which we could only penetrate through chemical quantitative analysis. Since such an analysis requires a significant amount of mob and partial destruction of an ancient thing, this method of research cannot be used. Already in the 10th century. we are meeting with silver products, decorated with a black pattern. V.I. Sizov identified among the Gnezdovo materials plaques of Russian work, with a background filled with niello. The black ornament adorns the already mentioned turium horn from the Black Tomb.
The composition of the black mass includes: silver, lead, red copper, sulfur, potash, borax, salt. This mixture is usually stored in powder form.
Until the end of the 12th century. in blackboard art, a black background and light relief figures on it dominated.
Samples of rabble from the 11th-13th centuries.
Inlay
The simplest and oldest species we find inlays on spurs of the 10th-11th centuries. A series of indentations were made in the hot iron with a thin chisel, which were later hammered with small gold or silver nails. Gold was sometimes driven flush with the surface of the iron, and sometimes protruded in the form of small tubercles.
Inserting gold wire into iron and covering large areas of iron with silver sheets (often followed by gilding) were also used. To do this, the surface of the iron was either cut with an oblique groove (for wire) or completely covered with notches and roughness for better adhesion to silver.
An example of solid silver padding is the helmet of Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, the body of which, free of gilded chased overlays, was stuffed with silver. Battle axes were decorated with inlays and overlays.
Gilding
It found wide application in the everyday life of Kievan Rus and allowed several in various ways applying gold. The least used method was the application of gold foil as the least durable method of connection.
In products of the 9th-10th centuries. Gilding is used very widely, playing an important role in the decoration of various products.
The oldest monument should be considered a fragment of a copper plate from Kyiv with a gold design depicting a city with part of the fortress wall, a tower, a boat with a high curved bow and a crowd of warriors with spears and shields. The warriors are beardless, without mustaches, and their hair is cut into a circle. It is quite possible that, unlike other doors of church use that have come down to us, the Kiev fragment belonged to the door of a secular palace, since the images on it are devoid of any admixture of churchliness.
Copper plate with gold design (Kyiv)
The invention of golden writing saved the artist from the tedious physical work necessary for inlaying, allowing him to freely create complex and intricate patterns and compositions.
In this respect, Russian jewelers overtook their Constantinople, Italian and Rhine contemporaries, creating the new kind gilding techniques. Judging by the fact that this technique survived the Tatar pogrom and continued to exist in Novgorod in the 14th century, one can think that in the 12th-13th centuries. it was widespread in all the most important Russian cities (Kyiv, Novgorod, Ryazan, Suzdal).
Wire drawing, filigree and graining
One of the most important sections of jewelry technology in ancient Russian cities is wire drawing. The need for wire was great and a lot of it was required for various needs. Copper, silver and gold wire were used for various products. Large-caliber wire was used to make hryvnias and bracelets, thinner ones were used for temple rings, chains, and the finest wire threads decorated the surface various items complex and graceful filigree pattern.
An interesting piece of copper wire harness for hryvnia was found in Kyiv. The master made a thick wire in advance, twisted it into a bundle, and then twisted it into several rows. As needed, a piece was cut off from the workpiece and a hryvnia was made from it. The found tourniquet costs 8-10 hryvnia.
Here we have an example of the transition from working to order to working for the market. The master pulls the wire in advance, even before receiving an order for hryvnias, prepares the raw materials for them - a tourniquet. It is quite obvious that the master made the blank in anticipation of future orders and did not dare to cut the wire, since the hryvnias could be ordered in different sizes. From here it is only one step before the master decides to prepare for future use not only wire, but also the very hryvnias; in this case, his workshop would simultaneously become a place for selling jewelry.
Thin wire was used to make a variety of filigree patterns. Filigree, Russian filigree (from “skat” - to twist, twist), is twisted wires that form some kind of pattern. The filigree can be openwork, when the wires themselves form the frame of the thing, but it can also be an overlay on a plate. In both cases, soldering is required to fasten the threads to each other or to the plate.
The graining technique that always accompanies it is absolutely inseparable from filigree - soldering the smallest grains of metal onto a plate. Grains of gold or silver were prepared in advance from tiny drops of metal, and then placed using small tweezers on an ornamented plate. Then everything followed the same as with the filigree: they sprinkled it with solder and put it on the brazier. It is possible that during this work they used copper soldering irons heated in the same brazier. Soldering irons were used to correct those places where the solder did not grip the grain or thread well.
To prepare the grain, modern jewelers practiced the following simple technique: molten metal (gold or silver) is poured into a reservoir of water through a wet broom or sieve, spraying the metal into tiny drops. Sometimes casting molten metal through a stream of water is used; This technique was difficult for ancient Russian masters to implement, since it required a horizontal stream of water. The grains of the frozen metal had to be sorted by size, since with the methods described they could not be obtained even.
Grain and filigree were found in Russian burial mounds starting from the 9th century, and subsequently became the favorite technique of urban goldsmiths. IN early time Silver lunars were especially diligently decorated with grains. Some of them have 2250 tiny silver grains soldered on them, each of which is 5-6 times smaller than a pin head. For 1 sq. cm accounts for 324 grains. On grained Kyiv colts the number of grains reaches 5000.
Sometimes cloisonné grain was used. A thin smooth wire was soldered onto the plate - the frame of the drawing. The space between the wires was densely filled with grain, which was soldered all at once.
A special decorative technique, which appeared hardly earlier than the 12th century, was soldering miniature wire rings onto a hollow silver ball, onto which one grain of silver was attached on top. It was with these technical techniques that star-shaped Kyiv kolta were made. The diameter of the wire from which the rings were made reached 0.2 mm. Painstaking work was rewarded subtle game light and shadow.
One of the uses of filigree was the ornamentation of gold and silver planes on large items such as icon frames, kokoshniks, large kolta and “barmas”.
The development of filigree technology with spiral curls influenced the ornamentation of the 12th-13th centuries. In fresco painting, miniature and applied art, it was at this time that the spiral pattern appeared.
Just as in casting and other sections of urban jewelry technology, and in the field of filigree and granulation, we are faced with the presence of wide mass production along with the work listed above for discerning customers. Copper beads from wire frame with blue grain on it.
Over the course of a long time, ancient Russian masters improved their skills, reaching higher and higher levels. Craftsmen on the highest level They were engaged in pottery, wood carving, stone processing, etc., but they achieved the most excellent results in metal processing. They mastered all the techniques of jewelry art. Old Russian masters used the techniques of filigree, graining, casting, embossing, forging, inlaying, drawing, blackening, etc., they mastered even exorbitant complex technology cloisonne enamel.
Blacksmiths were engaged in casting silver and bronze, creating real works of art. But jewelry work in the Old Russian state was not limited to casting. Many cast items were decorated with unique engraved and embossed designs and inlaid with precious stones. The uniqueness of the jewelry traditions of Ancient Rus' lay in the versatility of the craftsmen who knew how to work with all known techniques.
