Izraets is an original Russian word, derived from the ancient “sample” - this is what ceramic decorations for the outer walls of temples, palaces and the lining of stoves in state rooms were called until the end of the 17th century. The art of architectural ceramics itself has a long history, its roots go back to the times Ancient Egypt, Assyria and Babylonia. The widespread use of ceramic tiles in the architecture of different countries could not bypass Rus'. However, Russian masters used tiles in their own way to decorate the exterior and interior of the building, which made this type of art unique and inimitable. Tiled decorations were an integral part of the architectural design of buildings; tiled stoves played a large role in decorating the interiors of temples, palaces, princely and boyar towers.
The origins of Russian tiled art should be sought in ancient Kyiv of the 10th-11th centuries, Ryazan and Vladimir of the 12th century. During archaeological excavations in these cities, the first Russian ceramic products covered with transparent multi-color glazes were found.
Almost simultaneously in Rus' in the 17th century, several types of different designs of tiles developed in parallel. These are the so-called terracotta, which were made from red types of clay, tiled (tiles covered with green lead glaze) and colored, covered with various types of colored glaze, mainly turquoise, yellow, green and white.
In the 18th century, Peter I brought to Russia the famous “Dutch” tiles painted with cobalt on white enamel, which became trendsetters in tile stove fashion for many decades.
The magnificent fireplace in the Bishop's House in Krasnoyarsk, which was later destroyed, was decorated with German tiles. These few photographs are practically all that remains of this fireplace, and in many ways I used them to create my first tiles.
For the production of stove tiles, wooden molds were used; the rumpa (leg) of the tile was made either by hand or using a potter's wheel.
By the way, the rumpa is one of the biggest and most important “secrets” of the tile. Indeed, it is thanks to the presence of the rumpa that the tile is not simply glued to the surface of the stove or fireplace, but is mounted using wire during installation of the product, which undoubtedly increases the reliability of fastening - this not tile glue, which can fall off. Look at the Dutch ovens in the Hermitage, or the fireplaces decorating the Menshikov Palace - some of them are several centuries old!
In addition, the rumpa, which is hollow inside, becomes a wonderful source of long-term heat. During the heating of the furnace, the air inside the boiler heats up and then evenly releases heat into the room over several hours. The temperature in these voids reaches 100° C, which, however, does not affect either the brick or the tile at all. The stable heat transfer of lined stoves and fireplaces, which is significantly higher than that of brick ones, persists for several tens (or even hundreds) of years.
The environmental friendliness of tiles also plays a significant role. Due to shrinkage, the tiles do not have microcracks, and stove gases do not escape into the room. The installation method developed hundreds of years ago also contributes to this.
Today, tiles are also made by hand, but the molding is no longer done in wood, but in plaster molds. How a tile model is developed and then the tiles themselves are produced is in the next master class.
In preparing this master class, materials from the book by S.A. were used. Maslikh "Russian tiled art of the 15th-19th centuries"
"Russian tiled art is one of the remarkable branches of folk art. Tiled decorations, made from individual tiles or multi-tiled stamps and friezes, created bright color accents on the facades of churches and secular buildings, giving them picturesque, festive and elegant "".
In the second quarter of the 13th century, the tornado of the Mongol-Tatar invasion hit the Russian region. The destroyed principalities and cities weakened by strife resisted fiercely, but were crushed by the hordes of Batu. The Russian people found themselves under a heavy yoke. The struggle lasted for centuries. In the XIV - beginning. In the 15th century, the Russian land still lay in ruins: churches were destroyed, stone chambers and fortress walls were razed to the ground, cities and villages were burned out. But even in the most difficult times the foreign yoke did not die down in Rus' artistic life. It was concentrated in the craft settlements of northern cities, in monasteries, and in the estates of Moscow princes. It was necessary to build a lot, quickly, beautifully. The brick came into effect. At that time, clay slabs with an embossed pattern appeared, repeating the ornaments and images of white stone carvings. These slabs have not yet been glazed. They are known as the first ceramic facing materials, which later transformed into red tiles.
""The tile itself has been known in Russia since the 16th century. The red tiles have not yet been glazed, but they are interesting primarily for their variety of subject images, beauty and naive boldness of the compositions."
Not lacking in savvy and artistic taste, the potters understood that a stove lined with patterned tiles could become a decoration for a home. And they also understood that the design on the tiles should, on the one hand, amaze the buyer’s imagination with its beauty and entertainment, and on the other hand, be accessible to his understanding. This means that the reliefs on the tiles do not have the right to be heterogeneous and random, but must be connected to each other by some single line, at least a plot line. Red tiles can be divided into five groups. Labels on some tiles help identify band names.
It should be noted that at the end of the 16th and especially in the 17th century the favorite literary reading Russian man was "Alexandria" - a story about the campaigns and life of Alexander the Great. Many copies of the story, sometimes decorated with original drawings, circulated from hand to hand at that time. Alexander's exciting adventures opened up rich opportunities for illustrators. The cunning potter found themes for future tile designs in his favorite fashion story.
The master combined every five tiles with a single theme. Thus, the first group was dedicated to the assault on the “city of Egypt” by Alexander’s troops. The clay slabs depicted a besieged fortress and its defenders; troops going on an attack - infantrymen, horsemen. gunners and Tsar Alexander himself. On the tiles of the second group you can see a hunter, perhaps the same Alexander, with a falcon, a lion, leopards, and a crane. The third group depicts fairy-tale monsters: "whale race" - a centaur, the beast "inrog" - a unicorn - a horse with horns on its head, a fierce vulture - a lion with eagle wings and goat face, seven-headed beast, bird of Sirin. The rest of the tiles bear the state emblem - a double-headed eagle and various patterns of acanthus, palmettes and strange plants.
The rows of "fives" could be arranged in any order. But, most likely, tiles with a coat of arms were placed in the center. Above or below them, so that it was easier to look at, there were tiles with pictures. And at the very top and at the very bottom there were rows with a pattern of herbs and flowers. This whole kaleidoscope of patterns, real and fantastic pictures, constantly stood before the eyes of the inhabitants of the house. He attracted attention, excited the imagination, giving rise to an unconscious desire to learn something more about distant and mysterious lands and countries.
Later, these subjects migrated to relief tiles with green glaze. The first tile covered with green glaze is known as a native of Pskov. From there he came to Moscow in the first half of the 17th century. Green (murky) tiles gained full strength both in the lining of stoves and in the external ceramic decoration of buildings only in the middle of the 17th century. Multicolor in architectural ceramics made itself known in Moscow in the middle of the 16th century, when tiles of unprecedented beauty and shape appeared in some Moscow cities, as well as in nearby cities.
By this time, the strengthened Moscow state began to regain the western lands previously seized by the Polish-Lithuanian popes. Many thousands of people, spiritually drawn to their Russian brothers, moved from these lands to the cities of Central Rus'. Among the settlers there were many excellent craftsmen who left a remarkable mark on the development of Moscow crafts. Together with Moscow potters, they advanced the “tsenin business” so far that the second half of the 17th century could be called the golden age of Russian multi-color tiles. The tiles of the 17th - 19th centuries that decorated the stoves not only in the royal and monastery chambers, but also in the houses of merchants and wealthy townspeople were colorful and original.
"Both embossed and smooth, with blue, green and multi-colored patterns, they carry signs of new times, mastering the experience of other peoples and the fight against some foreign influences. At the same time, the sense of color, composition, harmony and originality of the best domestic tile artists remained unchanged in their decision."
Tiled stoves played a large role in decorating the interiors of churches, refectory chambers, ceremonial royal, princely and boyar towers, and later in the 18th-19th centuries, in the living quarters of townspeople and wealthy rural residents. Russian tiled art, which widely reflected the life, customs and tastes of the people, was created mostly by nameless folk woodcarvers, potters and painters, who came from the craft part of the population in small pottery workshops scattered throughout the Russian state.
Craftsmen most often drew subjects for their products from the life around them, flora and fauna, from legends, traditions, and from related branches of applied art: white stone carving, folk motifs of embroidery, prints and lace.
In the development of Russian tile art, there was no clear sequence in the production of different types of tiles. For example, in the second half of the 17th century, terracotta, mural and multi-colored products were made simultaneously. The origins of Russian tiled art should be sought in Ancient Kyiv of the 10th-11th centuries, Old Ryazan and Vladimir of the 12th century. During archaeological excavations in these cities, the first Russian ceramics were found, covered with transparent multi-color glazes. Interrupted by the Mongol-Tatar invasion, this production was revived two and a half centuries later in Pskov and Moscow. Mural products from Pskov and Moscow terracotta slabs of the 15th century, multi-colored reliefs of Dmitrov and Staritsa of the 15th-16th centuries are the most ancient ceramic products of the post-Mongol period.
Moscow craftsmen began producing red terracotta tiles at the end of the 16th century - beginning of the 16th century. XVII centuries. In the 17th century, the production of red, mural and multi-colored relief tiles spread throughout the central part of the Russian state. The leading position in these years belonged to Moscow, followed by Yaroslavl, Vladimir, and Kaluga. At the end of the 17th - first half of the 18th centuries, tile production was organized in St. Petersburg, Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda, the Trinity-Sergius Monastery and in cities far from the capital: Balakhna, Solikamsk, Veliky Ustyug and Totma. All of these productions had their own distinctive features.
Northern tile production began at the end of the 16th century in Orel-Gorodok on the Kama, one of the northern strongholds during the period of Russian penetration into the Urals and Siberia. After Orla-Gorodok was moved to the left, higher bank of the Kama in 1706, tile production moved to Solikamsk. The beginning of Balakhna production is approximately dated to the second half of the 17th century. The stove tiles from Solikamsk and Balakhna are similar in color and subject matter. They had box-shaped tillers throughout the entire period of existence of these industries.
The production of tiles on the Sukhona River, in the cities of Veliky Ustyug and Totma were very close to each other: almost identical colors of enamels with characteristic thick grassy greenery and high rumps receding from the edges. Relief images of the plant and ornamental nature of these productions are preserved throughout the entire XVIII - first half XIX century. Smooth painted tiles were made in these industries for a very short period, most likely only in the 19th century.
In Kaluga tile production, local light clays with their characteristic red-yellow and gray-yellow shades were used. The productions of the Makaryevsky Monastery on the Volga and the Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda are recognizable by the individual forms of their rumps.
The St. Petersburg production, organized in the 10s of the 18th century, is characterized by a unique profile of the table and blue painting on a white background of smooth tiles.
Terracotta, the so-called red tiles, first began to be produced in Moscow in the second half of the 16th century. Red stove tiles produced in Moscow, as well as terracotta slabs, were made from red clay, formed in carved wooden forms made by talented woodcarvers, dried and then fired. To fasten them in the stove lining or in the brickwork, box-shaped tillers were made on the back side. The molding of the front plate of the tile and the manufacture of the rump were done using a potter's wheel. Early tiles had square front plates measuring about 20x20 cm, bordered by wide relief frames. Such tiles were called wide-frame tiles. The large size of the front plates also gave them a second name - “big hand” tiles. The thickness of the plates of these tiles was close to 1 cm. The front surfaces of the red wide-framed tiles were richly ornamented. The height of the relief of the images ranged from 0.3-0.8 cm and, as a rule, was slightly lower than the height of the contour frame. The most typical subjects: spring scenes, crane, lion, Pegasus, hunter.
At the same time, “small hand” tiles were produced, with a square front plate measuring about 14x14 cm and a wide contour frame. To lay out horizontal rows of stove lining, rectangular belt tiles were made. They had a height of about 10 cm, box-shaped rumps and wide frames along the long sides of the tile. The relief images were of a plant or geometric nature. Jumpers were placed in the horizontal and vertical seams between the tiles. They had a semicircular shape with relief patterns and a rumpu in the form of a comb on the back. Jumpers inserted into the clay seams increased their tightness, and the semicircular shape gave the oven mirror a bas-relief character. The top of the stoves usually ended with a number of shaped “towns” with a narrow contour frame and various relief images.
These main five types of tiles were used to create a stove set required for lining one stove. The mirror of the stove was lined with “big hand” tiles, or, as they were sometimes called, “wall tiles”. For lining the corners of the stoves, the same “wall” tiles with a 450-piece cut were used. To obtain a dressing in horizontal rows of cladding, halves of “wall” tiles were used. The location of the “small hand” tiles in the stove lining has not yet been precisely established. In all likelihood, they were used to line the tops of furnaces or to lay out wider horizontal rows. Apparently, it is no coincidence that five “big hand” and seven “small hand” tiles placed in a row give the same size. Tiled stoves were laid on clay mortar. The kiln mirror, as a rule, was whitened, often with an admixture of crushed mica to give it shine. The stoves, lined with red tiles, have not survived. At the end of the first half XVII century, red tiles with a narrow contour frame, about 1 cm wide, called narrow-frame tiles, began to be produced. An innovation that seems insignificant at first glance made it possible to abandon the use of jumpers, which reduced the number of stove set products, but also led to certain disadvantages in appearance stoves: the loss of the bas-relief character of the stove mirror and the appearance of wide clay seams between the tiles.
Red tiles of a different nature were made by the pottery workshop of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery. Their distinctive feature there was a wide frame with a relief floral pattern. In the first half of the 17th century, they were made with a box-shaped tiller, and later - with a tiller receding from the edges. In the second half of the 17th century, red tiles were almost everywhere replaced by more modern, mural and multi-colored products.
The technique of making green lead glaze, the so-called murava, was known in ancient times. In Rus', it first appeared in Ancient Kyiv, and then at the end of the 15th century in Pskov. In the production of mural ceramics, Pskov was ahead of Moscow by almost a century and a half, which was the result of its more frequent political and trade ties with its western neighbors. The first tiled tiles produced in Moscow that have survived to this day date back to the 30s of the 17th century. The subjects of most of the early Moscow mural tiles had much in common with the images of their red clay predecessors. The tiles were made from light-colored clay with a grayish tint, most likely Gzhel clay, and had, as a rule, square-shaped front plates with wide frames along the contour and box-shaped rumps. The molding of the front plate and the manufacture of the rump were carried out in the same way as for red tiles, using a potter's wheel.
The first Western influences are observed in the tiles of the St. Nicholas Church (1665) in the village of Uryupin near Moscow. Here, along with the narrow-framed early mural tiles “plates” and “balls,” there are tiles with a square front plate, but without contour frames. In Moscow mural tiles of the 70s of the 17th century, square shapes of plates with images of stylized flowers and various birds continue to prevail.
Good quality tiles were produced at the same time in Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda. The collections of the Alexander Museum contain about ten different types of products from the lining of stoves that were in the building of the monastery cells. Most of them have relief patterns that transfer to neighboring tiles, forming carpet-like compositions on the stove mirror. Large collection green tiles from the lining of stoves from the 80s of the 17th century are kept in the Novodevichy Convent museum and in the funds of the State historical museum. The tiles available in these museums made it possible to establish the types of products that were part of the stove set and made it possible to reconstruct these stoves.
Painted tiles continued to be made in the first years of the 18th century, but they lost the expressiveness of the images, the richness of the relief and were soon replaced by new painted tiles of Peter the Great’s time. Multi-colored relief tile products appeared in the 15th-16th centuries in cities close to Moscow.
In Moscow, multi-colored relief tiles first appeared in the Ceramic decoration of the Trinity Church in Nikitniki (1635-1653). The light yellow-pink clay from which these tiles are made is characteristic only of Kaluga production, where, in all likelihood, they were made. Most likely, the enormous wealth of the merchant Nikitnikov gave him the opportunity to call a Belarusian master to Kaluga, who knew the secrets of making colored enamels. Perhaps this was the beginning of the involvement of Belarusian craftsmen in Russian tile production, which was then expanded by Patriarch Nikon. The production of relief multi-colored tiles was organized by Nikon, the abbot of the Iversky Svyatozersky Monastery, next door to the monastery - in the village of Bogoroditsyn. The Belarusian craftsmen he invited, natives of the then Lithuanian lands, began to work here. The Belarusians brought with them the secrets of making solid tin enamels in four colors: white, yellow, turquoise-green and blue. In addition to enamels, they used a transparent glaze of a brownish color, which gave beautiful brown shades on the red tile shard. Another innovation was the rectangular shape of the front plate of the tile, which was not used in Rus' before the arrival of Belarusian craftsmen.
In the production of new tiles, the leading principle continued to belong to the woodcarving masters, who made the forms, and the color schemes were carried out by the potters. Tiles of one design, as a rule, had several coloring options. These new multi-colored tiles, called Tsenin or Fryazh tiles, perfectly suited the tastes of that time. They went well with the lush decoration of religious and secular buildings, the so-called patterned decoration, which became widespread in the 17th century. ""Production began at the beginning of 1655 with the making of stove tiles by potter Ignat Maksimov from good clays found in the area of the village of Bogoroditsyna. The tiles made were used in the monastery itself, sent by Nikon in the form of offerings, and sometimes went for sale." In the early 70s, the Moscow pottery settlement switched to the production of multi-colored tiles, and soon the production of Belarusian and Moscow craftsmen was closely intertwined and became difficult to distinguish.
In the last quarter of the 17th century, multi-colored tiles began to be produced in provincial production. Yaroslavl tile makers, bypassing the production of mural products, began to make multi-colored tiles. They manufactured in large quantities tiles - rosettes, multi-tiled marks, belts, friezes and entablatures. The designs of the rosettes are close to those from Moscow, the rest of the products are very original and differ from those in the capital both in the designs of the images and in the shades of enamel. In the second half of the 17th century, the tiled stove became the center of the ancient Russian interior, and one of the main decorative elements was the tiled decoration of churches and bell towers. Moreover, multi-colored relief ceramic tiles, organically embodying beauty and richness, made tiled decor a significant element of the aesthetic ideas of people of that time.
In the second half of the 17th century, multi-colored stoves lined with relief items decorated the interiors of churches, refectories, and state royal and boyar chambers. The ovens had a clearly defined tiered character. Each tier consisted of several rows of tiles or multi-tiled stamps. The tiers were separated by profile horizontal rods. The base and final parts of the stove were made up of more complex shaped products: legs, valances and towns. At the beginning of the 18th century, in Moscow and its neighboring cities, the external tiled decoration of buildings fell out of use. Tiles these years are used only in the interior. In the provinces, especially those far from the capital, tiles continued to decorate the facades of buildings throughout almost the entire first half of the 18th century.
""The stormy Peter the Great era, with its radical restructuring of social life and the way of life of the elite of Russian society, required new solutions in tiles. The favorite tiles of the 17th century include unicorns, fierce vultures, polkans, sirens and archer warriors that are becoming anachronisms." The relief of the tiles of the 17th century was too large for the stoves of residential premises, which, as a rule, were not large in those years. This led to the fact that Moscow potters, and after them the majority of provincial craftsmen, began to introduce significant innovations in the production of their products. Moscow products of the early 18th century are close to their predecessors: the multicolor and relief of the image are preserved, the height of which gradually decreases, and soon the relief completely disappears. Subjects appear that did not exist, and could not have existed in pre-Petrine times. Tiles with portraits have been preserved, clearly reflecting the introduction by Peter I of a new fashion for clothing and hairstyles. In the first half of the 18th century, tiles with small relief medallions with primitive one-color painting were made.
The size of the medallions gradually increased, and the painting on them became more complex, which in some products began to cover the entire tile field free from the medallion. In the second quarter of the 18th century, narrative painting began to appear on medallions, and sometimes signatures placed on the medallion’s field free from painting. Stoves lined with tiles with oval medallions have been preserved in the gate church of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra and in the Verkhospassky Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. Balakhna tile production at the beginning of the 18th century was close to Moscow. Early products did not have painting, then it appeared in the form of a modest design and, gradually becoming more complex, went beyond the relief medallions. The masters of Veliky Ustyug followed a completely different path. Throughout the 18th century, they made multi-colored tiles with reliefs of an ornamental and floral nature. Painting on tiles was not used at all. The beginning of production in Veliky Ustyug in the 30-40s of the 18th century. Early tiles had a dark background, most often green, and light ornaments. Tiles from the late 18th century to the first half of the 19th century are characterized by a white background and dark ornaments. The colorful stoves of Veliky Ustyug were divided in height into several tiers, made up of 2, 4, and 9 tile marks. The masters achieved great perfection in their relief drawings. ""Various subjects and colors of the stamps make the stoves of Veliky Ustyug look like oriental carpets, which northern artists may have been inspired by at their colorful, crowded annual fairs."
In the first quarter of the 18th century, great innovations appeared in Russian tile art: they began to produce smooth painted tiles. The initiative to make them belonged to St. Petersburg.
Peter I, starting to build the city he founded in 1703, took a personal part in organizing the production of a new type of stove tiles. Delft painted ceramics, which he became acquainted with during his trip to Holland, were, according to his insistent demands, to replace the ancient multi-colored tiles. In 1709, Peter sent two captured Swedes to the New Jerusalem Monastery to organize the production of smooth painted tiles there. The samples made by the Swedes were not approved. This was probably the reason for sending Russian craftsmen to Holland in the early 10s of the 18th century to teach them how to make tiles. Russian potters trained in Holland perfectly mastered foreign painting techniques. In the Palace - Museum of Peter I and the Menshikov Palace on Vasilyevsky Island, the first stoves lined with painted tiles of a new type have been preserved. They were made at brick factories in St. Petersburg by craftsmen trained in Holland, who were called not masters, but painters. The leading principle in the manufacture of tiles now began to belong not to woodcarvers, but to painters. To make smooth stove tiles, which are increasingly called tiles, a carved wooden form was no longer required, as was the case in the last century. Their smooth surface was covered with white enamel, then painting was applied to it, and the tile was fired. During the second firing (and the first time the tile was fired before applying paint), the enamels melted and the painting was simultaneously fused. The tiered structure of the 17th century stoves was preserved, and multi-tiled marks gave way to smooth tiles with subject paintings. Many of the subjects of these products show foreign influences, especially in the images of buildings and sailing ships. Innovations in these stoves are the decoration of the middle tiers with painted columns and the placement of the stoves on turned oak legs.
The craftsmen of the ancient capital could not stay away from Peter's innovations and also began to produce smooth tiles with blue painting. In the painting and subjects of these products, Dutch influences are very minor. One of the types of Moscow tiles with a blue plot painting and an explanatory inscription existed for quite a long time, especially in provincial cities. The paths of St. Petersburg and Moscow potters diverged quite quickly. Monochrome blue painting apparently did not meet the tastes of the ancient capital, and its masters again switched to polychrome. Approximately in the 40s of the 18th century, a new type of multi-colored tiles with narrative paintings was being developed in Moscow. In the middle and second half of the 18th century, they were produced throughout the central part of Russia. These new multi-color painted tiles had a rectangular front plate (16-18x21-23 cm) and a rump extending from the edges. The tiles were painted with glazes of 5 colors: white, yellow, brown, green and blue. As a rule, the background of the tile was covered with white. Most of the tiles had 3-color painting. In the second half of the 18th century, two versions of multi-colored tiles with narrative paintings were simultaneously produced: with and without explanatory captions. The painting of these products did not extend beyond the front plate of the tile. The frames were very diverse, ranging from simple narrow borders to wide and complex designs. The exception was tiles depicting flowers, which, as a rule, did not have frames. The subjects of paintings on tiles were varied: men and women in costumes of the 18th century and in antique clothes, “overseas peoples”, horsemen, warriors, hunters, domestic animals, animals, birds, various colors; many scenes from the city and rural life, as well as everyday, moralizing, love and comic nature. Occasionally there were frivolous and sometimes obscene scenes. The captions under the stories are no less interesting. They are most often explanatory in nature. Lots of folk wisdom and sayings. On the tiles with “overseas peoples” there are signatures: “The Lady of Japan”, “The Chinese merchant”, “The Spanish cavaliers”. Under the images of animals, birds and flowers: “Wild Elen”, “I am brave in one run”, “They will know me from the claws”, “I sing sadly”, “I die from the sound of my voice”, “” My spirit is sweet”, and many, many others, no less interesting and funny.
A characteristic feature of 18th-century stoves was the uniqueness of the patterns on the wall tiles of the stove lining. Only tiles depicting individual objects in the form of vases, fruits, and bouquets were repeated. In the 60-70s of the 18th century, the number of different stove set products increased. Stove tiles of rapport and carpet types are beginning to be made. Products of complex shape are made to complete the coal part of furnaces. Free-standing speakers appear.
At the end of the 60s of the 18th century, Kaluga-made stoves appeared, significantly different from the previous ones both in their shape and in the painting on the tiles. The stoves resemble small architectural structures with clear horizontal divisions. The painting of the tiles is of a baroque nature; some scenes are placed on several tiles. In the upper tier there are cornice details of a pronounced baroque character.
In the second half of the 18th century, many painted tiles with images of flowers were made. Unlike primitive and stylized flowers on relief products, images of flowers on painted tiles are more realistic and colorful. In the middle of the second half of the 18th century, rapport tiles began to be made, on which subjects were placed on 2, and more often on 3, items placed in a row. They were made with and without explanatory inscriptions. On some rapport tiles, the signatures were replaced with quotation marks. They preceded later tiles without signatures. Throughout the second half of the 18th century, almost all ceramic production produced large quantities of painted tiles with scenes without signatures, the drawings of which did not extend beyond the front plate of the product. They differed from their mid-century predecessors by more complex pattern decorative frames. In the 80s of the 18th century, painted tiles with simplified subjects began to be made everywhere. The blue painting on a white background appears again. These tiles were used to cover stoves that were simpler in shape. This was the first stage in the transition to the manufacture of more simplified and cheaper products for the stoves of the next century.
At the same time, more complex tiles with large blue paintings were made. They were used to create compositions of large vases, baskets with flowers, wreaths, and garlands, which were placed on the central part of the stove mirror. Richer stoves were decorated with columns, niches and complex shaped finishes. Flexible, rapidly changing production, the never-ending demand for products, and the patronage of the powers that be ensured its organic existence in this century.
The 19th century did not bring anything new to the history of folk tile art. The decline in the rise that was achieved in painted multi-color tiles in the third quarter of the 18th century is clearly visible. The plots begin to gradually become simpler, the tones of the enamels lose their former brightness. In the first quarter of the 19th century, multi-colored tiles with explanatory inscriptions reappeared, but they were very common. short time, giving way to products with simplified painting. The widespread introduction of tiled stoves into the homes of wealthy urban and rural populations required cheaper products that were not alien to the tastes of new consumers. The subjects of these tiles reflect the events of the surrounding life, allegorical scenes, instructive inscriptions, and idylistic landscapes in a lush frame disappear. The characters are no longer dressed in antique togas and exotic clothes: their costumes carefully convey characteristic everyday details. This is a somewhat conventional, but fairly accurate depiction of lancers and hussars in the uniforms of the 10-20s and people in costumes of the 30s-40s of the 19th century on tiles of that time, stored today in the Kolomenskoye Museum-Reserve "". Stoves lined with colored tiles with simple paintings made the house more comfortable and cheerful. In such tiles the traditions of direct, original folk art are still preserved. However, certain changes also occurred in this painting. The type of painting itself changed: lush painting gave way to a dry graphic design, cold blue color in combination with yellow and brown began to predominate, and finally, the elegant ornamental frame was replaced by a narrow, strict border. The same evolution can be observed in the decor of ornamental tiles with flowerpots and bouquets, which were very widespread in the first third of the 19th century. Multicolor painting is replaced here by monochromatic blue. Echoes of the pictorial style are still felt in the asymmetrical composition with a fruit branch in lush, richly painted baroque curls. Over the years, the drawing becomes more and more simplified and becomes drier. In the end, the whole composition comes down to two extremely simplified branches, arranged crosswise in a diamond-shaped frame. Such tiles, cheap and easy to produce, were especially common in many provincial towns and villages in Russia.
In noble mansions, stoves were lined with complex white relief tiles with ornaments and images made in the style of classicism. They remind antique sculpture and are examples of the high skill of unknown performers. But, completely covered with white enamel, this ceramics lost its warmth to a greater extent, the stoves became more formal and official. On this floor, the production of tiles fades away as a unique and vibrant folk art. It arose in the 15th century, reached its apogee in the second half of the 17th century and passed into technically equipped workshops of ceramic industry enterprises in the 19th century.
The creations of folk craftsmen clearly demonstrated their artistic talent, high skill, subtle understanding of the material and fluency in technique. They always display clarity of concept, clarity of composition and the ability to combine utilitarian and artistic tasks. Folk artists throughout their centuries-long activity, with exceptional skill, they reflected in their art the life, aspirations and aspirations of their people, for whom they created and of which they themselves were a part. All this gives the right to consider tiled art as truly folk and deeply national Russian art. Chapter IV. Ural tile. Ceramics today.
Each district and city had its own traditional pattern, its own favorite combinations of colors. Likewise, tiles made by Ural craftsmen have their own characteristic features. In the Kama region, tiles appeared in the last quarter of the 17th century. Products of Ural ceramic production decorated the cathedrals of Solikamsk and other old Ural cities. Until now, they sparkle with bright colors on the facades of the Epiphany Church, the northern porch of the Trinity Cathedral in Solikamsk, the church in the village of Lenva, and the Chapel of the Savior-Ubrus in Usolye. Clear elastic lines of the design with low relief, harmonious composition, pure green color with unexpected splashes of blue and yellow - all this is typical for tiles produced in the Urals. The plot of the design of the tiles of the Epiphany Church and the Trinity Cathedral is reminiscent of “Balakha tiles”. It is curious that the drawing often matches completely, but is given in a mirror image. This is apparently due to the fact that the builders brought ready-made samples with them and used them in the manufacture of a new form.
On Balakhin tiles they often painted a large bird with an open beak - “look around”. She looked around - turned her head towards the flying tiny bird, the messenger. Oglyadysh is also on the Solikamsk monuments, but there is no messenger on them, apparently “lost” on the road. On other tiles there is a tawny owl, which, according to legend, pecks out its breast to feed its chicks. There is an image on the tiles of a raven carrying a cob in its paw and resting its other paw on some fancy flower. There is an overseas curiosity here - a turkey and a fabulous firebird - a peacock with a spreading tail. Each bird stands in the center of the tile, framed in an intricate floral design. The design of the frame is thought out in such a way that when the tiles are laid out in a mixed pattern, all the curls are combined into a common composition. According to the master’s plan, individual tiles, when added together, form a continuous colorful ribbon - “rapport”. Ribbons surround the temple in two or three tiers, and in sunlight give the impression of elegance and festivity.
Unique and unparalleled in Russian architecture are the tiles of the Chapel of the Savior - Ubrus, built in the second half of the 17th century. They depict a loved one in folk art the motive is the prophetic bird Sirin, half-maiden, half-bird, sister of the mellifluous sirens of classical Hellas. In Rus', the mythological Siren has healed independent life. The image of the "soul bird" - the bird of paradise Sirin - is found in works of ancient literature; on gold jewelry; on the painted wooden spinning wheels of the North; in the ceramics of many Stroganov buildings of the 17th - early. XVIII centuries. The Usolsk bird Sirin differs from all known Russian images. She, as it were, regains the features of the mythical Siren - she is a trumpeting bird with a girl’s face, with a crown on her head. Not far from the chapel, on the site of the former village of Lenva, stands the stone building of the Trinity Church. The facades of this church are also richly decorated with colored ceramics.
Absolute taste, sense of form and color make Perm tiles real works of art. Of the tiles produced in Solikamsk, individual tiles and multi-tile stove marks have also been preserved, stored in the local history museum. The stamps, close in the time of their production to the beginning of the 18th century, do not have painting, while in later ones, the entire field of tiles free from relief was filled with primitive blue painting. In its own way compositional structure they are very close to similar Balakhin and Moscow stove marks. Solikamsk stoves from the first half of the 18th century have not survived. Multi-tile marks in the local museum and several photographs from lost stoves made it possible to reconstruct them. The funds of the Yekaterinburg Museum of Local Lore contain a number of tiles, including several stove set items brought from Solikamsk.
The first appearance of tiled decoration in Russia dates back to the late 15th and early 16th centuries, when ceramic slabs with ornamental relief patterns appeared. Perhaps their appearance is associated with the resettlement of Belarusian artisans who fled from their homeland to Muscovy from the Polish and Lithuanian oppressors. Glazed tiles (covered with poured glaze and fired in a kiln) decorated the Cathedral of the Intercession on the Moat (St. Basil's Cathedral). At the end of the 16th century, widespread production of “red” tiles (stove terracotta tiles made from red clay) began in Moscow. The tiles were molded in wooden molds (photo below) with a cut-out three-dimensional pattern (by analogy with the ancient technology of preparing Russian gingerbread) using the so-called “stuffing” method.
The heyday of Russian tile art came in the second half of the 17th century and is associated with the widespread distribution of multi-colored relief tiles. Belarusian craftsmen brought the secrets of making opaque glazes (usually called enamels) to Moscow. Bright multi-colored stoves became the main element of the interiors of houses in Rus', and tiled facade elements decorated numerous buildings and structures of that time. Moscow has preserved some of them, for example, the Intercession Cathedral (1671-1679) and the Bridge Tower (early 1670s) in Izmailovo, the tiles for which were made by Moscow masters Stepan Ivanov (Polubes) and Ignat Maximov. Some elements of tiled decor in Moscow of the 17th century are shown in the photo in the materials of this article.
Tiled art in the external decoration of churches reaches special heights in Yaroslavl. The seventeenth century becomes golden for him. At this time, Yaroslavl acquired those unique features that became its distinctive feature. At that time there were seven monasteries and 50 churches in the city. Massive churches made of red brick, crowned with green domes, with slender bell towers directed upward, competing in beauty and monumentality, stood in one line on the high bank of the river. Rich tiled patterns with multi-colored canvas covered the walls of cathedrals, window frames, and dome drums. In terms of the richness and variety of tiled decoration, other churches cannot compare with such churches as St. John the Baptist, St. John Chrysostom, and St. Nicholas the Wet. Some unique Yaroslavl cathedrals are included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
The 18th century in Russian life is characterized by the further penetration of European artistic trends into traditional art, which entailed some changes in the artistic tastes of society. Tiled art did not escape this either. Here, first of all, it is necessary to note the role of Peter 1, who, during his visit to Holland in 1697-1698, noticed with his keen eye the beautiful “tiles” that almost every citizen had in the house. He gave the order to produce smooth white tiles, on which to apply designs with blue glaze, and thus opened a new and promising direction in tile art. This direction is the main one to this day - smooth, beautiful, dear to the heart and eye tiles brighten up life and provide warmth in our cold winters. And today, smooth, silky from the vitrified glaze, tender under the hand, storing the heat of the oven and giving it to people, multi-colored - the tiles are irreplaceable and impeccable. Moreover, their sparkling surface is always new, you just need to wipe them with a wet cloth. The stoves in old estates still amaze and attract our attention. In addition, smooth glazed ceramics have other properties, for example, dust does not burn on clean tiles (which is harmful to health) and they increase the heat transfer of stoves by about 10% (compared to the brickwork of an unfinished stove).
The tiles of the 18th century became different - a smooth front surface, restrained colors, a variety of subjects made in the style of painting. The heroes of the stories were people from different walks of life and in different situations. By the end of the century, multi-colored images of flowers, bouquets and birds prevailed in tiled painting. Ceramic tiles in the form of individual elements or panels were an integral part of the complex architectural composition of stoves, the main decoration of the interior.
In 1858, during the restoration of the chambers of the Romanov boyars on Varvarka, according to the sketches of the architect F. Richter, ancient stoves with tiles in the style of the “ancient masters” were recreated. Although they differ from the ancient originals, they are nevertheless interesting as the works of a talented artist who rethinks ancient art from the perspective of his time.
At the end of the 19th century, major artists and ceramists became interested in tiled art, primarily Mikhail Vrubel, who created a number of masterpieces on the Abramtsevo estate. He has made very good progress in his work and has developed a number of new glazing and firing technologies using his own glazes in a wide range of colors. He created sculptural compositions previously unseen in Russia (for example, a bench in the garden and a stove bench with a lion's head, wonderful layouts of stoves and fireplaces), lined with colored ceramics, which are masterpieces of ceramic art. Mikhail Vrubel was at the same time a great artist (it’s not for nothing that his paintings occupy an entire hall in Tretyakov Gallery Moscow), a significant sculptor and a strong innovator in ceramic production. In the 19th century, tile production became widespread; products were produced in a wide range and varied in cost and artistic value for a wide range of consumers. The tiles were intended, first of all, for finishing stoves, which are perhaps the main and absolutely necessary element of Russian life.
Occupying a very special place in Russia, the production of M.S. Kuznetsov, who produced porcelain and earthenware, also produced tiles in a fairly wide range. Thus, the 1899 catalog of the M.S. Partnership Kuznetsov" offered 18 types of stoves and fireplaces, many different types of individual tiles and tiles, two icon cases and one iconostasis.
After the revolution of 1917, tile art, like all types of art, underwent very significant changes. In the first post-revolutionary period, constructivism and modernism became the main directions in almost all types of art; tiled art also did not escape this influence. Then art returned to realism (socialist realism). In literature, in painting, in sculpture, and, of course, in ceramics, industrial themes began to predominate; people of labor and nature were depicted, mostly without artistic refinement and complexity. But the production of tiles has practically come to a standstill.
In the 90s of the twentieth century, tiled art began to revive. Small workshops and small ceramic factories appeared, where they began to make tiles. Many talented artists work with ceramics and demonstrate their successes. Thus, the works of masters were presented at the exhibition of Moscow tiles in Izmailovo in 2007, such as Nikolai Lyubimov, Evgeniy Tarabin, Sergei Lebedev. Artist Anna Udaltsova, head of the ceramics department of the Moscow State University of Arts and Industry. S.G. Stroganova showed at this exhibition not only the works of masters, but also the first experiments of her students. Modern artists are working fruitfully to preserve the ancient beautiful heritage of Russian ceramists. Thus, Nikolai Lyubimov has been busy for many years with the restoration of tiled ceramics of the Assumption Cathedral of the New Jerusalem Kremlin. The works of Evgeny Tarabin decorate the gate church of St. Andrew's Monastery in Moscow; he restored the famous frieze “peacock's eye”, similar to the frieze of the Intercession Cathedral in Izmailovo. An exhibition of tiled art from the collections of the Moscow State United Museum-Reserve in Izmailovo, held in 2007, once again showed what priceless treasures our history holds and how important their preservation is for the life of the people. Some magnificent works of ceramic artists are shown in the photo below. Simultaneously with factory production, individual production was also developing, creating a number of remarkable works of Russian tile art.
– is perhaps the largest Russian company that specializes in naturally aged building materials. It started with the supply of historical bricks for interior projects. Unique material of the 18th-19th centuries is rescued from destroyed ancient houses, estates and manufactories, which are dying over time and are being actively destroyed by the authorities.
For those who are not planning to build, but would like to imitate antique brickwork, they offer finishing tiles. In this case, the historical brick is cut into plates. This is exactly the type of tile they laid on the wall in the KV project.
In addition to bricks from the "Nemtsev Brothers" You can order authentic glass blocks from the 60s and 70s, windows, doors, boards and beams made from old wood, as well as ancient radiators and even a cast-iron floor with a century-old history.
Barn board
Ebony&Co- Toompa nia, where can I buy not just barn board for interior projects, but also products made from it: floor boards and parquet, wall panels, cladding for houses and terraces. There are a dozen treatments and textures to choose from. The material is supplied not just from North America, but literally from the Middle Ages: the age of such a board is about 400 years.
Viewers of our programs this material is familiar. The designers of Peredelka quite often use barn boards, both for historical allusions, as was done in the projects, and for decorating completely modern interiors - let’s remember
ovens can tell us about the life and lifestyle of people of different periods. After all, ceramic finishing came to us from ancient times and has been preserved on many hearths due to its unique properties. And tiled stoves and fireplaces in ancient buildings served as an integral element of the heating system. Some of them were used for their intended purpose, while others acted as a decorative element to disguise heating pipes distributing heat from the central firebox.
But often they all served as interior decoration, and in castles, palaces and estates of noble and wealthy people they acted as a sign of prosperity. For this reason, the most the best masters, the most expensive materials and the latest painting trends were used. But there are some Tile stoves that deserve special attention; they can tell us a little more than others.
History in stove tiles: photo of a painting with historical value
The first tiled stove that I would like to talk about is located in the Latvian castle of Jaunmoku. The neo-Gothic style castle was built in 1901 as a hunting residence for the mayor of Riga, George Armistead. The building is an architectural monument and today is the Forest Museum, so everyone can get acquainted with the tiles of the stove not only in the photo, but also see it with their own eyes.
The tiled stove, made by the Celms and Bems factory, is located on the second floor of the castle. It serves not only as an interior decoration, but also as a historical monument. The tile decoration, dedicated to the 700th anniversary of Riga, consists of 130 ceramic tiles depicting about 50 different views of the old city and its surroundings. Pictures of streets and squares, architectural structures and Latvian nature are reminiscent of old photographs and very well convey not only historical facts, but also the spirit of that time.
Photo: stove with tiles, made in honor of the 700th anniversary of Riga
Photo: stove tiles depicting old Riga, 1901.
Photo: tiles on the stove of Jaunmoku Castle, Latvia
Another stove with historical overtones of tile painting is located in the Czech Orlik Castle. The construction of the castle and the origin of its unusual name are associated with a legend. The story tells of a cruel chieftain who led a gang of robbers operating in the forests in the south of the Czech Republic. One day, returning from his fishing, the ataman did not find his beloved son. A long search yielded no results, and the grief-stricken father fell asleep not far from a rock on the bank of the Vltava River. In the morning, the chieftain was awakened by a child's crying, which led him to an eagle's nest on the top of a rock. Having returned his son, the chieftain decided to say goodbye to his life as a bandit once and for all and, together with his gang, built a defensive fortress. And it was this fortress that was reconstructed in the 14th century into a beautiful Gothic castle made of stone.
In the middle of the 19th century, a tiled stove appeared, imprinting the legend in its lining. Like the interior of Orlik Castle, the stove is made in the neo-Gothic style. Ceramic tiles resemble a fairy-tale book with bright color pictures. And green tiles with relief patterns frame its pages like a colorful flyleaf. The text fragments of the painting amaze with the subtlety of the work of ceramic masters of that time.
Folk wisdom in pictures on tiled stoves
In the period of the 17th-19th centuries, tiles for stoves and fireplaces with plot painting became popular. Such images convey to us the features of the relationships and lives of people of that time. Sometimes tiles act as a real teaching aid, as in the case of the stove in the Yusupov Palace, which we met earlier. And some specimens even carry philosophical judgments and folk wisdom, immortalized in ceramics by masters.
Tiles with written notes can be found on the stoves in the Bishops' Chambers. This is a whole complex of buildings in the Suzdal Kremlin, which was intended for church supremacy. The structures were erected during the XV-XVII centuries. At the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th centuries, the individual buildings of the complex were united. During the same period, the Cross Chamber was built on the second floor for special events and receiving guests. The room is the most luxurious and magnificent hall.
Two tiled Dutch baroque stoves that heated the Cross Chamber appeared in the middle of the 18th century. Their ceramic finishes are similar. The main elements are decorated with a plot painting with a small text accompaniment. The only difference is the color of the painting pigment: blue and brown.
Photo: tiled stoves of the Cross Chamber, Suzdal
Photo: stove tiles, mid-18th century.
Similar tiles can be seen in the Kostroma Ipatiev Monastery. Such a stove decorates the Chambers of the Romanov boyars. Its appearance dates back to the 19th century and is associated with the reconstruction of monastery cells into royal chambers under the leadership of the architect Fyodor Fedorovich Richter. The text fragments and plots of this ceramic decoration are closer to religious dogmas, and some even quote the Holy Scriptures. This is due to the fact that the painting was carried out by church craftsmen.
Photo: stove tile, mid-19th century
For example, the stove tile in the photo reads “Mercy and truth meet,” which means “Mercy and truth will meet.” We are talking about the mercy and justice of the Lord on the day of judgment. At the top of the tile there is a bag, symbolizing the actions and deeds of a person throughout life. And for each person the question is whether the scales with the sack will outweigh the cup filled with the water of divine mercy.
The picture on the tiled stove in the photo is captioned with the inscription “With you I dry up.” Everyone knows the biblical symbolism, personifying universal evil in the form of a serpent. So here we see how evil destroys all living things in its path. A person shrouded in evil dries up like a tree that has turned into a lifeless snag in the arms of a serpent.
It's amazing how unusual and varied the tiled finish of stoves can be. Thanks to the painstaking work of masters, pages of history, myths and legends, the wisdom of centuries, can be frozen in ceramics. cultural values, traditions and even religious dogmas. Ceramic lining of the hearth can not only please the eye, but also be filled with content and depth.
The creations considered are not united by either the time or place of their creation, or the origin or culture of their creators. They can be equated only by one expressive feature - the embedded piece of the soul of the masters. These kilns are further proof that ceramics is an immortal art that can speak, convey thoughts and make you think.
The geography of the products presented in the collection is equally extensive, including tiles from Moscow, Yaroslavl, Ustyug, Vologda, Kaluga, Vladimir and other famous centers, as well as samples of European and Oriental ceramics.
The collection includes ancient ceramic glazed tiles that were used to decorate buildings Kievan Rus in the 10th–11th centuries; relief terracotta slabs, which at the end of the 15th century came to Moscow Rus' to replace traditional white stone carvings; the first, so-called “red” stove tiles - ceramic tiles with a box on the back for fastening, adorned stoves from the end of the 16th century.
Terracotta slab from the decor of the Church of the Deposition of the Robe of the Moscow Kremlin
1485–1486
Stove tile
End XVI – beginning of XVII centuries
Exhibition “Milestones in the history of Kolomenskoye”
at the Front Gate of the Sovereign's Court in Kolomenskoye
The basis of the museum collection is made up of relief mural and polychrome tiles of the 17th century. They arrived at the museum at the end of the period 1920–1930, when monuments of church and secular architecture were being destroyed everywhere. Thanks to the enthusiasm of P.D. Baranovsky and his associates in the funds of the Kolomenskoye Museum managed to preserve fragments of tiled decoration of numerous Moscow churches and bell towers: St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in the Pillars (1669), St. Nicholas the Wonderworker Appeared on the Arbat (early 1680s), Adrian and Natalia in Meshchanskaya Sloboda (1688), Kozma and Demyan in Sadovniki (1689), Trinity in Zubov (1680s) and others. A special place among the examples of façade ceramics is occupied by ceramic panels depicting the Evangelists, made by Moscow craftsmen at the end of the 17th century.
Second half of the 17th century. – truly the “golden age” of Russian tile art, the time of the appearance and widespread distribution of multi-colored tiles in the decoration of stoves and building facades.
Mural tile from the decor of the Trinity Church in Kostroma
Moscow production,
Around 1650
Exhibition “Milestones in the history of Kolomenskoye”
at the Front Gate of the Sovereign's Court in Kolomenskoye
Ceramic panel “Bird with Fruit”, from the decor of the bell tower of the Church of Kozma and Demyan in Sadovniki in Moscow
1689
Exhibition “Masters. Technique and art of the Russian builder of the 15th–19th centuries"
in the Atrium of the Repository in Kolomenskoye
Ceramic panel “Evangelist Luke” from the decor of the Cathedral of the Holy Fathers of the Seven Ecumenical Councils of the Danilov Monastery in Moscow
Exhibition “Masters. Technique and art of the Russian builder of the 15th–19th centuries" in the Atrium of the Repository in Kolomenskoye
Tiled stove from St. Michael's Church of the German Settlement in Moscow
1680s
Exposition “Milestones in the history of Kolomenskoye” at the Front Gate of the Sovereign’s Court in Kolomenskoye
The 18th century stove tiles presented in the collection, made using the enamel painting technique, which replaced ancient Russian products, reflect a new “living acceptance of the world”, a change in a person’s idea of his place in life.
Smooth painted stove tile
Mid-18th century
Russia, Moscow
An outstanding work by the artist Mikhail Vrubel, the tiled fireplace “Mikula Selyaninovich and Volga,” made in 1898, is evidence of a return to late XIX centuries of Russian artists to the “art of clay” and the embodiment of ancient Russian traditions in a new artistic language.
Fireplace "Mikula Selyaninovich and Volga"
M. Vrubel
1898
Ceramic products Soviet period, primarily experimental tiles with portraits of V.I. Lenina, I.V. Stalin, with images of workers and Red Army soldiers complete the thousand-year history of Russian tiles presented in the museum’s collection.
Ceramic tiles
D. Tsipirovich
1928.
Moscow, Institute of Silicates
Currently, the tile fund continues to be replenished mainly due to archaeological finds on the territory of Moscow, as well as individual tiles or complete stove sets from old Moscow houses.
