The exhibition "The charm of beauty. From the history of jewelry in Russia"

The State Historical Museum will open the exhibition "The Charm of beauty. From the history of jewelry in Russia".

The exhibition is the first large–scale display of a part of a large collection of jewelry from the collection of the Special Storeroom of the State Historical Museum. The variety of shapes, materials, ornamental solutions and artistic techniques of the collection opens the pages of the history of jewelry in Russia in the second half of the XVII–early XX century.

Jewelry has always been an integral part of the costume. They changed after the fashion, making more and more demands on jewelry. Luxurious jewelry and accessories were designed to emphasize the owner's high status, position in society and discerning taste. Trying to please demanding customers, jewelers tirelessly developed their skills, perfected techniques of processing precious stones and metals.

The variety and elegance of jewelry works gives the most complete picture of the tastes of the era, which was absorbed in the search for expressive forms, materials, and decorative techniques. Earrings, rings, brooches, bracelets, necklaces and chokers, pendants and pendants, tiaras and combs demonstrate a new artistic perception of jewelry. An effective reflection of the artistic and imaginative interests of the era are themed decorations, among which jewelry with cameos, mosaics, turquoise, rock crystal, garnets and corals, as well as sentimental jewelry ("sentiments") were popular. The originality of the artistic solutions of these works of jewelry reveals in its own way the sensual nature of Modern man, rich in impressions (cameos, mosaics), emotional feelings of joy and love, sorrow and compassion, sadness and sadness, contemplation of natural works (turquoise, rhinestone, garnets and corals).

"At the exhibition "The charm of beauty. From the history of jewelry in Russia" visitors will see for the first time a part of the extensive jewelry collection from the collection of the Special Storeroom of the Historical Museum. Relying on their own artistic traditions and European experience, Russian masters of gold and silversmithing have created a rich world of beauty that is close to man, having managed to reflect their own delicate taste in the images and forms of jewelry," says Alexey Konstantinovich Levykin, director of the State Historical Museum.

A distinctive feature of the era is a meaningful understanding of beauty in art and the improvement of ways to convey its images. The jewels of this period vividly demonstrate their main purpose — to be spectacular accessories in the guise of a person who is sensitive to the constant changes in styles in art and artistic fashion. They were supposed to emphasize a person's individuality, pay attention to their emotional state, and enhance the expressiveness of the image as a whole.