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Children's and Miniature Arms from the 16th
- 19th Centuries in the Hermitage Collection The exhibition which opened on 14 March 2006 in the Menshikov Palace presents around 100 works of the weapon maker's art created by masters from the countries of Western Europe, Russia and the Orient. The exhibition begins with examples of Western European defensive arms dating from the 16th-17th centuries. In its outward appearance - the forms, configurations and construction -children's armor copies the armor of adults and differs only in terms of the smaller sizes. Armor like this was used for instruction in the principles of the martial arts. The same objectives were served by scale models. The exhibition displays two cannon cast in Italy in the 17th century. They are reduced-size operational copies of field artillery pieces of the period. Models like this were used chiefly for instructional purposes when teaching the principles of artillery and sometimes for gun salutes during festivities. Modeling articles of weaponry was a very widespread part of the professional work of European masters in the 16th to 19th centuries. One of the main conditions given to the weapons producers was that the copies be precise scale models of the originals. A further demand imposed on firearms was that the separate parts of the mechanism fully match the originals and be capable of firing. Manufacture of especially fine and complex miniatures was a sort of test or proof of accomplishment which given to students of arms masters and apprentices. The traditions of making miniature models of arms began to develop in the 16th century as we see from rare samples dating from this period. The exhibition displays a pair of pistols which most likely come from the atelier of a master arms maker in the city of Nuremberg in the period 1570 - 1580. Both pistols have been produced in full accordance with the originals, a pair of saddle pistols. Using a magnifying glass, we see that even the smallest details of both models have been made with amazing accuracy. The careful execution of a miniature model musket from the 17th century also draws the visitor's attention. This was evidently Dutch work. Even today the art of the famous arms masters is amazing in terms of the perfect technical and artistic execution. In the elegant forms of children's and miniature arms and pistols, in the ingenious designs on the rifle butts and handles, which are highlighted by thin silver wire, we can easily appreciate the original creativity of the skilled craftsmen of this celebrated center of arms manufacture in Russia. The models and reduced-scale copies of line weapons of the 19th century Russian army created by Tula masters are notable for the special care of the technical execution. In the exhibition there is a set of weapons including miniature rifles based on various systems that were found in the army during the 1870's. These were made by students of the Tula arms school and were evidently intended to be presents to one or another member of the Imperial House. One set of three miniature objects on display, operational models of a famous rifle by the outstanding Russian designer S. I. Mosin, come from Izhevsk, another center of arms production. These are versions for the infantry, dragoons and Cossack troops. There are remarkable for the superb quality of the work and the careful attention to detail of the gold inlay inscriptions on the blued polished barrels of all three rifles. Whereas Tula historically became a multifaceted center of arms production in Russia, Izhevsk acquired renown thanks to its excellent firearms and the city of Zlatoust in the Urals was celebrated for its various forms of swords and related blade weapons. Children's fencing rapiers, miniature sabers and broadswords with blades decorated in the finest engraving on a blued and gilded background and signed by the outstanding master designers and artists - all of this evokes delight at the talent of the creators. Among these works one should mention the model of an officer's saber dating from the first quarter of the 19th century, which copies the original down to the smallest details. Evidently, along with a series of other "reduced size" objects - work materials for blades and molds for casting sword-hilts - this saber is representative of what was saved from the so-called "Technical Study." This was the name of a large set of models of swords and related weapons of various categories, production materials, tools and apparatus assembled in 1827 in the Zlatoust Arms Factory. This set was sent to Petersburg as a gift to the heir to the throne, Grand Duke Alexander Nikolaevich, the future Emperor Alexander II. One rare example of the indispensable attributes of daily military life on display in the exhibition is a child's drum which was given by the Empress Catherine the Great to her grandson, Grand Duke Alexander Pavlovich, the future Emperor Alexander I. There is surprising wealth of types and shapes of items, as well as surprising diversity of decorative elements in works produced by arms producers in the Orient, the famous masters of Iran and India, Central Asia, the Caucasus and Turkey. There is a curious example of a child's version of defensive arms that is part of a set of Iranian armor dating from the 18th to early 19th century. This served to defend the body of a warrior and bore the well known name of "the four mirrors." Four rectangular steel sheets are joined by straps and decorated with elegant gold ornamentation in the traditional manner. In practically every historic region of the East, there were longstanding traditions of choice and application of certain ways of decorating weapons. One of the miniature Caucasus daggers presented in the exhibition has been skillfully decorated with carved bone, which has a complex design inlaid in gold - a method that was widely applied in the artwork of masters from the Caucasus and Trans-Caucasia. Polished steel served with equal frequency as decoration of Indian swords, as we see, for example, in a small children's saber, the so-called talvar. The artistic manner of Turkish arms makers of the 18th century may be seen in the fine silver filigree which covers a scabbard and also decorates a small knife which is close in type to the famous yataghans. A color catalogue of the exhibition with illustrations has been issued by the State Hermitage Publishing House. The author of the catalogue and curator of the exhibition is Yuri Aleksandrovich Miller, director of the Arsenal Department of the State Hermitage. |
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Copyright © 2011 State Hermitage Museum |
