Русский изразец - [4]

Green glazed tiles from the decor of the Trinity Church in Kostroma. The middle of the seventeenth century

Зеленые изразцы. Вторая половина XVII века

Green glazed tiles. The second half of the seventeenth century

Рельефный полихромный изразец из декора церкви Николы Явленного в Москве. Вторая половина XVII века

Relief polychromic tile from the decor of the Moscow Church of St. Nickola Yavlenny, The second half of the seventeenth century

Изразцовое клеймо с церкви Козьмы и Демьяна в Садовниках в Москве. Конец XVII века

Tile inset from the Church of Kozma and Demlan in Sadovniki in Moscow. The late seventeenth century

Деталь изразцового наличника с Земского приказа в Москве. Конец XVII века

Detail of tile platband from the Zemsky Department in Moscow. The late seventeenth century

Изразцовый барельеф с изображением евангелиста Луки из Данилова монастыря в Москве. Конец XVII века

Tile bas-relief with the image of the Apostle Luke from the Danilov Monastery in Moscow. The late seventeenth century

Первая половина XVIII века

The first half of the eighteenth century

Изразец печной рельефно-расписной

Painted relief stove tile

Изразец печной расписной

Painted stove tile

Изразец печной расписной

Painted stove tile

Изразцы печные расписные. Конец XVIII века

Painted stove tiles. The late eighteenth century

Изразцы печные расписные. Конец XVIII века

Painted stove tiles. The late eighteenth century

Изразец печной расписной. Конец XVIII века

Painted stove tile. The late eighteenth century

Изразец печной расписной. Конец XVIII века

Painted stove tile. The late eighteenth century

Изразец печной рельефный. Вторая половина XVIII века - начало XIX века. Север

Relief stove tile. The second half of the eighteenth century - the beginning of the nineteenth century. The Russian North

Изразец печной расписной. Первая половина XIX века. Калуга

Painted stove tile. The first half of the nineteenth century. Kaluga

Печь „фаянсовая" из дома Варгина в Москве. Конец XIX века

"Faience" stove from the Vargin home in Moscow. The late nineteenth century

Камин. Абрамцевская мастерская. Конец XIX века - начало XX века

Fire-place made in the Ab-ramtsevo workshop. The late nineteenth century - the beginning of the twentieth century

Ceramics is one of the oldest achievements of mankind. Its history can be traced back thousands of years and encompasses a great number of different articles - from rough and heavy bricks to porcelain cups. The Russian tile occupies a worthy place in this history.

The State History Museum possesses a vast collection of Russian tiles, numbering about 7,500 items.

A tile is a variety of facing ceramics employed in architecture and interior decoration. A clay boxlike bedplate on the back side is designed for fixing the tile to a wall or stove. Each epoch left its imprint on tile ornament. Only clay as the material, and production technology consisting of forming, drying and baking were common to all epochs. For glazed tiles the technique included further glaze coating, ceramic paints colouring, and a second firing.

The first tile-makers lived in the Potters' Quarter in big towns and monasteries of old Russia. From times of old Moscow was one of the largest tile production centres. Fifteenth century terra-cotta relief plaques marked the beginning of tile-making. They replaced labour-consuming white stone carvings in exterior decor. Bands and friezes of plaques harmonized with the developing brick construction. Floral patterns dominated in the ornamentation, animal images were used less often. Terra-cotta plaques were whitewashed to achieve the effect of white stone.

Sixteenth century relief red tiles were used for quite different purposes. They were made of slightly processed natural red clay. The obverse was impressed in carved wooden moulds. Bedplates were made by a potter's wheel or by specially applied clay layers. Tile-clad stoves were whitewashed and that is why some tiles have retained lime traces on the face. Not a single stove with red tiles has been preserved till our day and only modern reconstructions allow us to judge what their form was. The ornamental patterns are floral, executed in the "double rope" technique called "weaving", or thematic. The themes were intricate, sometimes amusing, often - dramatic. Some depicted the siege of a fortress by foot and mounted warriors, Alexander the Great's campaigns, fantastic unicorns, many-

headed hydrae, etc. The artistic manner was symbolic. By using wooden moulds the imprint could be repeated several times. Red tiles have been found only in archaeological excavations and in house construction. This explains why no unbroken tiles have come down to us.

The next stage in tile development was the use of glaze. Green glazed tiles first appeared in Pskov in the late fifteenth century. In Moscow coloured glaze has been known since the middle of the sixteenth century. From the middle of the seventeenth century green "murava" glazing became fairly popular but only for a short time. At first their ornamental themes repeated those of red tiles, but gradually the number of subjects increased, simple frames were replaced by ornamented ones, images of birds, flowers and vases filled the centre. The tiles became larger.