Tatyana Savitskaya
Radishchev Art Museum in Saratov, Russia
Modern science addresses the works of decorative and fine arts not only as objects of culture, but also as carriers of historical information. Researching them allows us to understand more clearly the history of daily life, cultural requirements and reference points, as well as the essence of those concepts and images which still exist today.
Decorative and fine arts collections of Russian museums, including the Saratov state museum of fine arts named after Radishchev, are poorly explored today.
The subject of this research is a historicism epoch jug from the funds of Radishchev Art Museum with images of “drinking” scenes on it. The sketch of this jug was created in the 1840s by L. Folts (1809–1876). The jug was made in the 1880s.
The purpose of research is to reveal common and special features of L. Folts’s model and its Saratov version: technique of production, design, contents of images.
Methods of research include comparative and hermeneutic analysis, art analytical description within interdisciplinary approach.
The research shows that the 1840s jug is made of brown stoneware by method of free rotation, the relief decor is imposed by means of matrixes. Elements of Gothic decor are organically combined with the Renaissance principles of composition — uniformity, harmony, symmetry.
The jug from Radishchev museum is made of gray-blue stoneware (decoration is made by cobalt oxides), by plaster cast method. Its basic lines of form and decor remain, but through a number of methods the gothic “component” is accentuated. Using possibilities of plaster cast, the interpreter applies a relief ornament more widely, changes some substantial details of the image, weakens a plot component and increases decorative effect.
The interpreter doesn’t just copy a sample, using new technical capabilities and ideas of taste and values, he creates an original version.