Now on Propagandaworld.org
Size: 12.5x10cm./4.9×3.9inch.
Weight: 177gr./6.2oz.
Kholmogory bone carving is a traditional handicraft practiced in the villages of Kholmogorsky District, Arkhangelsk Oblast, in the north of Russia.
The craft of bone carving was developed in the town of Kholmogory in the 17th century. It is first mentioned in connection with the fact that two Kholmogory sculptors, brothers Yevdokim and Semyon Sheshenin, were invited to work in the Kremlin arsenal, which carried out orders before the Tsar’s court.
The craft reached its peak in the 18th century under the rule of Peter the Great. Craftsmen used walrus ivory, seal bones, and in rare cases even elephant and mammoth ivory. In the 18th century, carved boxes, bracelets, portrait frames and similar objects were very popular. In the second half of the 19th century, handicrafts declined and by the 1880s there were few sculptors left.
The local authorities made an effort to save the handicrafts and in 1885 a masterclass in bone carving was opened in the village of Lomonosovo, close to Kholmogory. The class had to be closed in 1900 for lack of interest. The next attempt to revive the handicrafts was made in 1934, when the Central Executive Committee of the USSR passed a special decree on measures to develop the bone carving of Kholmogory.
In 1937, the carved objects received acclaim at the 1937 World Fair in Paris. In the thirties and fifties, the main purpose of the handicraft was to serve the Soviet propaganda, and therefore the objects were carved in the style of the Stalin empire. Special item, presumably made of ivory on a black wooden trapezoid plinth, which is nicely decorated along the sides. It can be different types of ivory, see description above.
