Applied art

Jewellery occupies a special place among works of decorative-applied art. It had a long process of development as it passed from talismans which give protection against enemies and diseases to real works of art, decorating costume and emphasizing its design and originality. Being closely linked with the material and spiritual life of peoples, jewellery embodied their aesthetic and social ideas as well as the peculiarity of national art.

Vase-shaped samovar with «dolphins».

The end of the 19-th century. Nickel-plated brass. 63 - 71 - 38 cm.

The Tula Museum of Regional Studies.

The Guzuls are a small ethnic sub-group of Ukrainians who live in the Eastern Carpathians, in the West of the Soviet Union. Their homeland, Guzulshchina, lies within three administrative regions of the Ukrainian SSR (Ivano-Frankovsk, Chemovitsy and Zakarpatye regions).

EMBROIDERY is a most popular form of decorative arts in Ukraine. The finest examples of this work represent the world of beauty and fantasy, showing a poetic perception of the surrounding nature and drawing on images which hark back to ancient mythology, the customs and beliefs of our ancestors. Though the art of embroidery has its origins in the depth of centuries it is an indispensable part of modern culture.

Samovars are a necessary feature of the Russian mode of life and consequently a part of Russian applied art. Russian master craftsmen specialising in samovars did and still do rank high by making their produce of different forms, outlines and decors.

It is difficult to say when the first ever samovar was made, but they became widely spread throughout the country with the introduction of tea and coffee. Samovars were produced in the Urals, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yaroslavl and Archangel, but most famous was Tula, an old centre of metalworking.