SHOWCASE 12. RUSSIAN PAINTED ENAMEL

Presented items — caskets, bowls, cups, knives and forks, and religious objects are made in the forms typical of the 17th-century silverware. They are remarkable for the ornamentation — a combination of picturesque multicolour images with a smooth white coating as a background, which is peculiar to the technique of coloured enamel, mastered to perfection by Solvychegodsk (Usolye) silversmiths. At that time enamel was used for painting silver utensil in imitation of precious porcelain. Ceramics was floriated, decorated with figures of animals and birds, Biblical subjects, genre scenes, etc. 

In medieval Russia forks and knives were kept in cutlery stands shaped like a beaker with round perforations inside and removable cover. They were executed of wood and bound with sheets of silver, decorated with ornamental pattern and enamels.

The artistic tradition of Solvychegodsk jewellers influenced enamel work of many Russian towns, such as Veliky Ustyug, Vyatka, Yaroslavl and Moscow.