ZHOSTOVO LACQUERED TRAY
Zhostovo black
lacquered metal trays
painted with rich
colorful flower
ornaments represent one
of the most famous
Russian arts and crafts,
Zhostovo painting,
developed in the village
of Zhostovo, Mytishi
District of the Moscow
Region.
The handicraft of painted
metal trays appeared in the
mid 18th century in the Ural,
where metallurgical factories
of the Demidovs were located
(Nizhny Tagil, Nevyansk,
Verkhneivinsk (now
Novouralsk), and only in the
first half of the 19th century
the trays started to be made in
villages of Moscow Province,
such as Zhostovo, Troitskoe,
Novoseltsevo, and others.
Soon the Moscow
handicraft took the
lead. Zhostovo painting
owed a lot to the
Lukutins lacquered
miniature on papiermâché, produced in the
nearby Fedoskino.
Presently production of
metal trays with
lacquered painting is
concentrated in
Zhostovo Village of the
Moscow Region and in
Nizhny Tagil.
Widespread motifs of
Zhostovo painting are
bouquets and still-life
compositions, flowers
vases, and garlands.
By their function trays
can be divided into
two groups: those for
household use (to
serve food, or to put a
samovar on) and just
for decoration. Trays
can be of round,
square, octagonal,
oval, combined, or
some other shape.
Then Zhostovo masters paint
trays freehand, without use of
stencils or samples, totally
relying on their own fancy.
Painting is usually made
against the black background
(sometimes it can be red,
dark blue, green or silver),
and the artist works on
several trays at once. T
The ornamental design
is applied with liquid
gold (gold powder
diluted in transparent
varnish or turpentine)
or white paint with
varnish, which is
dusted with aluminum
powder.
Each tray created at
the Zhostovo
Decorative Art
Manufactory is
painted by hand, has
several layers of
authentic Zhostovo
painting and is signed
by the artist.
Flowers and fruit is the most
natural subject for a
Zhostovo tray. In the dawn
of the 19th century some
artists would travel to other
areas and sketch flowers tha
caught their eye. Returning
home they would share
sketches with other painters.
As a result first Zhostovo
flowers didn't look quite
realistic and it became
traditional for this place to
paint flowers that looked
absolutely alive yet slightly
differed from any flower
grown on Earth.
fruits, berries and
birds
Zhostovo hammered trays are created according to the
old tradition of hand smithery. Hammered trays owe their
configuration, size and proportion to the artistic feeling of
a smith.
Guitar-like, round,
octangular and
rectangular shapes of
a hammered tray is
what Zhostovo
borrowed from
Nizhny Tagil in the
19th century.
Zhostovo smiths
perfected and
diversified them. Also
the idea of carved
handles and smooth
curves at the border
of a tray belongs to
Zhostovo masters of
smithery.
Every hammered tray which was created at the Zhostovo Decorative
Art Manufactory has got its own special number. Quality of a
hammered tray is endorsed by a certificate. The certificate also
contains the name of a smith who created a tray and the name of the
Tell about The
technological process of
making Zhostovo trays
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Step 5
From the first half of the 19th century there were workshops producing painted
lacquered trays in several villages of Moscow Province. Zhostovo factory
originated from the workshop opened by the Vihsnyakov brothers in 1825. In
1928 several artels, established on the basis of workshops after the revolution,
merged into one - Metallopodnos (i.e. metal tray) – which was later, in 1960,
transformed into Zhostovo Factory of Decorative Painting. Starting from 1938,
future Zhostovo tray painters underwent in-plant training at the factory.
Today Zhostovo painting is applied not only to metal, but
also to papier-mâché, ceramics, glass and even leather.
http://www.zhostovo.ru/
Rostov Finift’ – Russian Enamel
Painting
From time immemorial Rostov Veliki was
famous for its architecture, icon-painting,
frescoes, and bell-ringing, and from the mid 18th
century enamel painting (finift) flourished here.
Rostov finift’ is painting on enamel with enamel
paints.
Enamel came to Old Rus
from Byzantium (together
with Christianity, in the
10th century), and so the
Russian name of enamel finift’ - is derived from the
Greek finftis, which means
‘bright, glittering’. It is the
radiance, brilliance, and
unfading colours that
attract to finift’: the painted
designs shine in the milkwhite enamel surface as if
oozing from its depth.
Painting on enamel, being a
very complicated decorative
art, has always been
esteemed on a par with
precious stones. Finift’
technique is used for creating
jewelry, icons, miniature
portraits, coats of arms, and
other luxury. Painting on
enamel boasts literally
everlasting purity, luster and
transparency of colours. It is
not subjected, unlike other
kinds of painting, to ruinous
impact of light, dirtying, and
moist and temperature
differences.
As for painting on enamel,
a comparatively late
technology of artistic
enamel, it appeared in
Russia in the late 17th
century.
This original technology
was invented by the
French jeweler Jean
Toutan in the 17th century.
He invented refractory
paints which are applied
with a brush on enamel
surface and then dried
and fired to secure.
Art enamel at all times valued
at jewels, and today is
recognized as a leading art
painting of the XXI century.
The year 1900 saw the opening of a Rostov finift’ school that launched
painting on enamel of jewelry.
In 1960 Rostov Finift Factory producing hand-painted enamels was
founded. Nowadays it has grown into a large-scale enterprise, with its
production having the call in the international market.
Sources:
http://finifty.ru/