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But if you really like tobacco so much... 25 June, 2010 an exhibition But if you like tobacco so much dedicated to the culture and history of using tobacco in Europe was opened at the State Hermitage. The exposition named after Alexander Pushkin’s early poem for the first time offers one hundred twenty items related to the tobacco culture of Europeans in the 17th-20th centuries. It is believed that tobacco appeared in the Old World in late 15th century shortly after the discovery of America along with a lot of new materials, customs, artifacts, flowers and vegetables. There are many theories regarding the tobacco’s name itself and the history of its distribution. It was cultivated as a decorative plant and the flowers grown in gardens and pots were admired. Tobacco was used as a medical aid against head and tooth aches, rheumatism, cough and other ailments. Over centuries the tobacco culture experienced a long and uneasy destiny as a ritual item in ancient America to an excessively profitable commodity which conquered the world all over. Larger group of exhibition’s items is represented by boxes intended for storing tobacco: tobacco cases, tobacco pouches and snuff-boxes. The latter were adopted by the people of the 18th century so fully that the century itself was named the “snuff-box century”. Snuff-boxes were portable and table and were selected to match the costume and the season. The exhibition features fine boxes which belonged to women and men of fashion and are made of stone and tortoise’s shell, ivory and porcelain, pearl and rock crystal. A number of snuff-boxes belonged to European monarchs such as Augustus the Strong, Friedrich the Great, Ludwig the 15th as well as Russian emperors such as Peter the 1st and the 2nd, Anna Ioannovna, Elizaveta Petrovna and Catherine the 2nd, and originate from the Hermitage’s Gallery of Valuables. Well-renowned European masters were involved in the creation of these valuable works with portraits, ciphers, allegorical and historical compositions. By late 18th century snuff-boxes became the objects of collecting. Gold or silver snuff-boxes embellished with precious stones were not only used for their direct purpose but were thought a valuable gift and equaled awards and medals by their significance. Special group is represented by so called soldiers’ snuff-boxes made of copper and brass and intended for storing tobacco in traveling conditions. One of the highlights among the exhibits is the tobacco grinder, which is a rare and completely obsolete item for grinding tobacco leaves. They are made of timber, ivory, pearl and silver. Over the centuries the Europeans’ addiction to tobacco smelling and chewing was also driven by smoking which replaced all the previous addictions in the 19th century. To smoke tobacco (coiled leaves, ground leaves, leaves added with various herbs and other components), the production of cigars, cigarettes and their sorts was started. To store them, special cases were made such as cigarette cases, cigar boxes which are represented on the display by works of masters from many countries of Western Europe and Russia. Production of pipes needed special skills and understanding of the smoking process. The exhibition displays a few clay pipes found during the excavations within the territory of the Winter Palace in 2006. They survived to our days in a fragmented condition but they are essential to us since they belonged to the first builders of Petersburg. Their laconic execution is in contrast to the high artistic level of pipes produced for the members of the royal family. Pipes’ sizes and materials they are made of, patterns and curved decor are extremely versatile. The exposition is represented by the compulsory attributes which complemented the smoking process such as ash trays and match boxes, various supports and cases. A color illustrated catalogue is prepared for the exhibition (Publishing office of the State Hermitage, 2010). The exhibition’s curator and the author of the introductory article is Olga Kostyuk, the leading research associate of the Department of Western European applied art of the State Hermitage, Ph. D. in history of arts. |
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Copyright
© 2011 State Hermitage Museum |
