In the 17th century, Russia had not yet mined gold or silver in its depths. But every Russian woman was wearing pearls: pearls on a dress, pearls on headdresses, on chobots, on handkerchiefs. Russia was a pearl country.
Zhuravlev, Firs Sergeevich. "Hawthorn".
More than 150 pearl-bearing rivers were known in Russia. "There are provinces, such as Nizhegorodskaya, in which each peasant woman wears around her neck, on her headdress, from 200 to 300, and sometimes up to a thousand, real pearls."
F. Solntsev. Clothes of Tver women and girls.
Alexey Korzukhin. "Hawthorn".
Sometimes in the paintings of the classics of the 19th century you can see the most ordinary Russian women - peasant women, bourgeois women, in beautiful kokoshniks decorated with pearls, in pearl necklaces … Pearls in the paintings are large, white, very beautiful … and perfectly set off the beauty of women of the Russian North.
Oleshkevich Joseph Ivanovich. "Portrait of a Young Woman".
Sokolov Alexander Petrovich. "Portrait of M. K. Tenisheva".
Promotional video:
Vasily Timofeev. "Portrait of a Young Woman".
Rich in pearls were: the Volga to Simbirsk, the Biryuch river, Lake Onega, the Valbuzha, Galmuzha rivers, the Vichai stream, the Vodla, Vici lakes. There were black pearls here.
There were a lot of white pearls in the Novgorod lake Ilmen, in the rivers Zeleika, Vadula, in Onega, Iksa, Varzuga, Vayga; in Voria - in the bay of the White Sea; in the rivers Vetluga, Msta, in the tributaries of the Msta, in Psela, in the Umba; in the lakes Prorva, Seliger … the rivers of the Terskiy coast of the Kola Peninsula, and the river Muna gave a lot of high quality pearls.
Lake Seliger.
Foreigners were stunned by the abundance of pearls in Russia. In the nineteenth century, Baron Haxthausen, who examined the treasury of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, exclaimed: “It is difficult to count pearls on the images and utensils of the Trinity, it would be easier to measure them in fours. On the images of the Mother of God and the saints, only faces and hands are usually painted, the very dress is covered with a golden robe. The most respected images, instead of vestments, are covered entirely with pearls and precious stones. Perhaps there are more pearls in the Trinity Lavra alone than in the rest of Europe."
The robe, in which Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich was married to the kingdom, was completely made of pearls and precious stones and weighed more than 80 kilograms. The sakkos of Patriarch Nikon and other rulers of the Russian Church were pearl.
Miter. 1626 (with alterations of the 18th century).
The best Russian pearls were called "pitched", that is, round, rolling. They said about him that he was nothing but tears of joy or sadness that rolled down from the mirror. Regular spherical pearls with a thick nacreous layer of white and silver color, which “does not stand still on a silver platter” - the longer it rolled, the higher its cost. Irregularly shaped pearls were called "horned" or "charcoal".
In the first half of the 17th century, there was a special market in Moscow - the pearl row, where pearls were traded.
Incredibly, some 150 years ago, in small rivers such as the Okhta, near St. Petersburg, peasants were engaged in pearl fishing. This occupation was a very profitable business. In 1917, they said that for one high-quality pearl in St. Petersburg they pay 50 rubles or more, taking into account that it was possible to buy a cow for 10 rubles then.
Beginning in the 11th century, pearls were used to decorate frescoes, icons, mosaics, and religious objects. In 1562, Ivan the Terrible presented the Solovetsky Monastery with a cross decorated with precious stones, multi-colored filigree enamel and framed with pearls. The mantle and hat of this king were completely covered with diamonds, rubies, emeralds and other stones, including pearls the size of a nut, and the king's hat was decorated with patterns of small river pearls.
In the history of Russia, the following case is described: Ivan the Terrible had a staff sheathed with beautiful northern pearls. And then one day this pearl suddenly "went out". For the superstitious king, the staff was almost a symbol of his power, so he resolutely ordered to restore its original splendor. In fulfillment of the order, the pearls were ripped off the staff, strung on a waxed thread and immediately sent to the village of Keret, to Karelia, where a healer, who knew how to return shine and sparkle to the "extinct" pearls. To fulfill this difficult task, one of the young girls had to put on the sent necklace around her neck and swim with him in the river for a hundred and one nights. According to another interpretation of this legend, in order to return the shine to extinct pearls, the staff of Ivan the Terrible was lowered 101 times into the water of northern rivers. It is not known exactly whether this operation was carried out, but the pearls were returned to the king "revived".
In Russia, pearl mining was carried out mainly by monasteries, as well as private individuals. But in 1712, a decree was issued prohibiting private pearl mining. True, this did not bring the expected result, and mining was again allowed, but a rule was introduced - to hand over the largest and purest pearls to the treasury.
One of the long-standing traditions of the royal house of the Romanovs was also associated with pearls. Each of the great princesses of the Romanovs received two special gifts for her sixteenth birthday - a pearl and a diamond necklace. On name days, Christmas and Easter, the daughters of the royal couple of the Romanovs received a pearl each. By the time she came of age, every girl became the owner of a string of beautiful pearls.
Round, pear-shaped and teardrop-shaped sea pearls were considered a special luxury. The portrait of the famous Russian artist Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy depicts Empress Maria Feodorovna, wife of Alexander III, whose neck is entwined with pearl beads, and a brooch with pendants of four large pear-shaped pearls adorns her chest.
The wife of the Ural breeder T. N. Demidova was the owner of a four-row necklace of pearls the size of a hazelnut. Pearls were a favorite adornment of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. Her Majesty's most luxurious necklace fell to her knees.
In the treasuries of the Diamond Fund and the Kremlin Armory, there are preserved royal attire embroidered with pearls: the Monomakh hat, the Kazan hat and the Diamond hat, as well as the icon frames of the Mother of God Odigitria, the Vladimir Mother of God and the pearl cross of skillful work - aksamit. Created with skill and love, the vestments complement and set off the image, carry rich symbolism, become an adornment of a house or a temple. Gold symbolizes Divine grace, silver - purity, pearls - holiness, purity.
Robe of the icon "Our Lady of Vladimir" 1657 Gold, precious stones, pearls; chasing, filigree, enamel.
The history of pearls began a long time ago, which once again proves the versatility of this jewelry: they embroidered camisoles and dresses of royal ladies, made bracelets and rings, and set them in tiaras and crowns. Pearls gradually became a sign of belonging to an aristocratic society. So there was even a rule of court etiquette: ladies could not appear in society with a bare neck: a chain with a pendant, a necklace - something had to be worn.
Makarov Ivan Kuzmich. "Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna".
Nowadays, parents can revive the beautiful tradition of giving pearls to their children - a symbol of love and devotion, instilling a taste for beauty from childhood. Jewelry with pearls is often mentioned in the pages of world and Russian classical literature. So, in the novel by Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy "War and Peace" at the first ball of Natasha Rostova, the gentlemen gallantly courted "ladies in white, blue, pink dresses, with pearls on open arms and necks."
Tiara "The Russian beauty" or the diadem "Russian beauty" is one of those jewelry pieces that have become a material expression of the brightest feeling - love. A luxurious work of art was created by order of Emperor Nicholas I. The monarch presented a unique diadem made in the form of a kokoshnik to his wife. The Russian Beauty was made in 1841.
A copy of the tiara. 1987 year
It was Nicholas I who ordered that kokoshniks be worn by all court ladies. This detail has become an element of the ceremonial toilet.
Well, the history of Russian pearls is an integral page in the history of the people, their spiritual culture, and I would like this history of Russian pearls to continue today …..
There are several dozen other rivers in our country where Margaritifera margaritifera lives and reproduces. Moreover, in several of them the population size of these molluscs is measured in millions of individuals. These are some of the largest surviving populations on the planet.