Ancient Russia: crafts, their types, development

2024 Author: Sierra Becker | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-26 03:47

The destruction of communal-tribal relations and the emergence of specialists in narrow industries - these are the changes that characterize Ancient Russia in the eighth-ninth centuries. Crafts lead to the emergence of cities, separating part of the population from work on the land. This is due to the appearance of the first specialists -masters in certain types of crafts, who concentrated in tribal centers - cities.

Cities are craft centers

They tried to build the city in such a way that its geographical position would allow trade to be carried out as best as possible and at the same time successfully defended from enemies. For example, in a place where two rivers merge, or around a hill. Representatives of the authorities also settled in the cities. Therefore, they were well guarded. Gradually, with the development of crafts, cities began to be not just military fortifications, but turned into shopping centers.

In the center of the city was the Kremlin, where the prince settled. This part was surrounded by a fortress wall and surrounded by an earthen rampart. In addition, a deep ditch was dug around, which was filled with water. All these precautions were necessary to protect against enemies. Outside around the Kremlin were locatedsettlements of artisans, the so-called settlements. This part of the city was called the settlement. In many settlements, this part was also surrounded by a defensive wall.

Life in the cities was in full swing, artisans created their goods, crafts and trade of Ancient Russia were actively developing. By the twelfth century, there were over sixty craft speci alties. The craftsmen specialized in the manufacture of items of clothing, utensils, tools that ancient Russia needed. The crafts of Ancient Russia developed rapidly and rapidly. Talented professionals of various fields lived and worked in the settlements: masters of blacksmithing, jewelry, pottery, shoemakers, tailors, weavers, stone cutters, and representatives of other crafts. The economic we alth and strength of the ancient Russian state, its high material and spiritual culture were created by the hands of these craftsmen.

Without iron - nowhere

Blacksmiths were professional pioneers. Their work has become one of the most important areas into which the crafts of Ancient Russia of the 9th-12th centuries were divided. This work is mentioned in folk epics and folklore: epics, legends and fairy tales, where the blacksmith is always a model of strength, courage and kindness. In those days, iron was obtained by smelting from swamp ore. They mined it in the off-season, dried it and then delivered it to workshops, where they melted it with the help of special furnaces. This is how the metal was made. Modern archaeologists during excavations of ancient Russian cities often found slags, which are waste from the process of melting metals, and vigorously forged pieces of iron masses. Foundthe remains of blacksmith workshops have preserved parts of furnaces and furnaces, near which artisans once worked.

There is a business for a blacksmith: goods for warriors and farmers

With the development of metal production, a new round of trade development begins, which the country that lived in subsistence farming did not know before. The crafts of Ancient Russia, in particular blacksmithing, had a pronounced practical orientation. Products produced by blacksmiths were required by everyone. They were needed by warriors who ordered weapons - arrowheads, battle axes, sabers, spears, swords - and protective clothing - chain mail and helmets. The production of weapons in Ancient Russia reached a special level of skill, which can be called a real art. Unique armor was found in burials and necropolises in Kyiv, Chernigov and other cities.

Forged tools were needed by farmers: without iron scythes, sickles, coulters, plowshares it was impossible to imagine the cultivation of land. Any household required needles, knives, saws, locks, keys and other household items made in the forge by talented craftsmen. Finds in the form of burials of blacksmiths showed that even their working tools were sent to the graves along with blacksmiths - hammers and anvils, chisels and tongs.

Historians believe that more than 150 types of metal products were known in the eleventh century by Ancient Russia. The crafts of Ancient Russia played an important role in the development of trade between the settlements.

Jewelry Mastery

Blacksmithing craftsmen sometimes engaged in smallwork, creating small masterpieces - jewelry. Gradually, goldsmithing became a separate industry. This is how the jewelry craft appeared in Ancient Russia. Russian craftsmen mastered the technique of making jewelry so well that one could only wonder how they succeeded. Skillful things that have survived to our times - bronze amulets, pendants, buckles, earrings and necklaces - amaze with the subtlety of workmanship. Jewelry was created using the granulation technique, while a pattern was soldered on top of them, the basis of which was a lot of metal balls. Another way of making jewelry was filigree. This technique is characterized by the fact that the drawing was created with a thin wire, which was soldered onto a metal surface, the resulting gaps were filled with enamel of different colors. Jewelers also mastered figured casting, as well as the niello technique, which required special art, when a pattern of silver plates was placed on a black background. Beautiful items with gold and silver inlays on iron and copper have survived to this day. Such sophisticated techniques testify to the high level of development of crafts in Ancient Russia. Thus, the hands of ancient Russian artisans created highly valuable jewelry made using the technique of cloisonné enamel. It was a kind of brand of Russian goldsmith craft. The skill of Russian jewelers was a very complex technique, and their work was distributed all over the world and at the same time was highly valued and in great demand everywhere.

Both bricks and dishes were sculptedeverywhere

The pottery craft of Ancient Russia emerged as an independent industry a little later than blacksmithing. The potter's wheel appeared with our ancestors in the eleventh century. This allowed the ancient craftsmen to create beautiful products. The device of the machine was simple, it rotated with the help of a foot drive, but the dishes that the potters of that time managed to create are striking in their craftsmanship and variety of forms. Initially, the manufacture of pottery was a women's business. However, in the literary handwritten monuments of Kievan Rus there are references only to male potters.

They used clay for their products, which was specially processed, moistened with water and actively kneaded. Of all the pottery, the greatest demand was for pots and other vessels, which were made of different sizes and used for different purposes, they could pour water or store food, berries. The pots were placed in the oven and the food was cooked. Such dishes have survived to this day.

What were the ancient Russian masters famous for?

Describing the crafts of Ancient Russia of the 9th-12th centuries, we briefly note that the Russian Slavs of the pre-Christian period knew how to make chasing, produced ceramics, mastered the art of fine embroidery, and were famous for their mastery of making enamels. The works of Kyiv artists have survived to this day. These are unique samples of bone carving, blackening, metal engraving. Old Russian masters of glassmaking and their tiles were famous all over the world.

Ancient Russia mastered various crafts, but the most skillful of them was woodworking. From this materialoutbuildings, dwellings, gates and bridges, fortresses and walls were built. Boats were wooden, all household utensils were generously decorated with wood carvings. It's no secret that the main souvenir, personifying the artistic craft in Ancient Russia, is the nesting doll - a colorfully painted wooden doll with a void inside. From it, one after another, the same beauties get, and each is slightly smaller than the previous one.

Art painting

Decorative and applied crafts of Ancient Russia were famous far beyond its borders. Since ancient times, our ancestors have admired the whole world with their art of artistic painting. The variety of patterned motifs in Russian ornamentation led to the emergence of different schools and directions of this folk craft. Each of them had their own colors and lines.

Gzhel

Bright blue-blue painting with cob alt on a white background of porcelain was called Gzhel, which comes from the name of the town near Moscow, where this direction originated. It was first mentioned in the charter of Ivan Kalita. First, the craftsmen made dishes and toys, later, with the development of production, the range expanded significantly. Fireplace tiles were especially popular. Gzhel ceramics has become popular all over the world. Other murals of our ancestors also received names from the places of their creation and distribution.

Bright colors on a dark background

Zhostovo painting is an artistic craft in Ancient Russia, which came in the eighteenth century from a village with the same name near Moscow. Isoil painting on metal trays. It is easy to recognize it by bright colorful flowers, fruits, birds, located on a dark background. The applied patterns are then covered with a special varnish, which is why they have such a shiny look. The technique of this painting is rather complicated, the image is created in several stages.

Very cheerful shades are pleasing to the eye, so trays were very popular in Russia and are still a decorative element in many homes and institutions.

Palekh

Palekh miniature came from the regional center in the Ivanovo region. This type of craft is a painting on lacquerware. Painted over a black background, colorful folklore, everyday, religious scenes adorn caskets, caskets and other things. It is believed that the Palekh lacquer miniature appeared in the fifteenth century, when ancient Russia was distinguished by the flourishing of cities and trade. Crafts originated in different ways. For example, such a direction of an ancient craft as Palekh miniature was created by ancient Russian icon painters. Skillful artists lived in Palekh, who received invitations from all Russian regions to paint in temples and churches. It was they who began to paint the caskets with all sorts of fabulous and historical plots. All images were applied with bright tempera paints over a black background.

The technology of this type of craft is quite complicated, the process of creating miniatures is time-consuming and multi-stage. It takes a long time to study and master it, but as a result, an ordinary dark box turns into a unique one.the beauty of the thing.

Khokhloma

Another type of hand painting on wood is Khokhloma, which appeared more than three hundred years ago. Dishes and household items painted with fiery scarlet colors attract attention with their unusualness. Patterns that develop into beautiful ornaments are pleasing to the eye even today. There is a secret in the creation of Khokhloma products, which lies in the fact that they are varnished several times, after which they are tempered in an oven. As a result of firing, the coating turns yellow, and the products created from wood seem to be gilded precious utensils. In addition, the dishes as a result of such processing become durable. Its coating allows you to use Khokhloma cups, bowls, spoons for their intended purpose - for storing food, for eating.

Chinese pictures

Lubok is another type of folk art representing the crafts of Ancient Russia. This occupation was the creation of an impression on paper using a wooden cliché. Such folk pictures were common in the fair trade as early as the seventeenth century and until the beginning of the twentieth century were the most massive and widespread type of Russian fine art. The plots displayed by the lubok are very diverse: religious and moral themes, folk epics and fairy tales, historical and medical information, which were always accompanied by a small text that could be instructive or humorous and told about the customs and life of their time with the wisdom inherent in the people.

Crafts of Ancient Russia, 18th century:Russian samovar

We have the right to be proud of the skill of our Russian craftsmen. Today, their work can be seen not only in museums, but also in our own homes. Some types of crafts in Ancient Russia were especially popular. For example, throughout our country to this day there is a Tula samovar. In the eighteenth century, there were more than two hundred different types of these products. Nowadays, in the city of Tula, there is even a museum of samovars.

Who were the first masters that Ancient Russia was so famous for? Crafts, unfortunately, did not retain the names of their creators. But things that have come down to us from the depths of centuries speak to us. Among them there are unique rare items and household utensils, but in each product one can feel the skill and experience of an old Russian craftsman.