Tiles
The bookmarks reproduce patterns copied from painted tiles manufactured in St. Petersburg brickworks during the early eighteenth century.
From the history of tiles
Accounts of numerous events in the Russian history begin with the phrase, “It was Peter the Great who initiated …”. Likewise, the art of tile-making entered a new stage when Peter the Great himself supervised the manufacture of a new type of glazed tiles that he had admired in Holland for their white smooth surface and painted decoration.
The craftsmen trained in Holland were referred to as artists rather than artisans. The early subjects of Russian tile painting were clearly influenced by foreign precedents, e. g. representations of buildings and sailing ships placed in the middle of what was described as ‘a kafel’ and surrounded with a frame of flowers, vases, scrolls, meshed patterns, etc. At a later stage the style of Russian glazed tile painting came to resemble that of the popular prints, or lubok, if only because glazed tiles were decorated by producers of lubok prints, i. e. town craftsmen and self-taught painters. Not only did lubok pictures and painted glazed tiles served the decorative purposes, they also constituted, as it were, a manual of the Russian life. Being brightly-coloured and demonstrating a great variety of subjects, glazed tiles cried out for close examination, so that one could read the inscriptions and study each picture carefully.
.jpg "Furnace tile. The second half of 18 century")
