The tradition of presenting exhibitions connected with the use of a particular material as the prime artistic impulse continues in the state rooms of the Winter Palace.
A new temporary exhibition with a quote from Joseph Brodsky as its title will be devoted to this theme.
The State Hermitage collection contains a great many artistically finished items that feature emeralds. The exhibition will begin with the works of craftsmen from Antiquity – the earliest examples of the working of emeralds, or of stones that were then considered emeralds. The display, arranged along chronological lines, will continue with the creations of mediaeval craftsmen and splendid examples of the work of the jewellers of the East, which were often presented to the Russian court by way of diplomatic gifts. Among the first-rate masterpieces from the museum collection in which the art of working such a rare and valuable material manifested itself most clearly, the display will include a 16th-century Spanish-made caravel pendant, communion vessels created by 17th-century Muscovite craftsmen and a set of horse harness made in Saint Petersburg in the 1730s. The museum’s stocks make it possible to present emeralds that come from various natural deposits – Egypt, Columbia, the Urals…
