Experience of studying ornaments on kiselnitsa from the collection of the Nizhny Novgorod State Reserve Museum of History and Architecture

Abstract

The article presents the experience of studying one of the types of peasant pottery — kiselnitsa. In the collection of Nizhny Novgorod Museum-Reserve there are kiselnitsy of the 19th — early 20th centuries with relief ornaments that were imprinted on the kissel. This ritual dish was served in the Nizhny Novgorod Region at commemorations and weddings, so the kiselnitsa’s ornament is of particular importance. Researchers from different fields study ornament as an anthropological and cultural-historical phenomenon and come to the conclusion that it can indicate both the belonging of an object to a certain ritual and demonstrate a universal sign system adopted in a particular society. This is especially true for ethnographic objects. Numerous works on ornaments on traditional Russian embroidery and wood carving have already been written, but clay is little explored in this regard. However, kiselnitsy provide ample opportunities, since the ornaments on them are very diverse: geometric, vegetable, zoomorphic. The author examined eight objects with different ornamentation, divided the ornaments into types, and through universal signs characteristic of Slavic paganism as well as displayed in other types of Russian crafts, tried to reveal the meaning of the ornament and its belonging to a particular ritual. Only such an in-depth study of the object will allow us to better understand its cultural and historical significance and thereby expand its exposition possibilities in the museum. Communication with the object will be built in a new way: kiselnitsy can broadcast information not only about life, crafts and aesthetics of our ancestors, but about their ideas about the world and the rituals, traces of which are found in modern society.