Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

ariel · 3rd March 2010, 12:33 PM

Here we are on thin grounds: the inscription is on the throat silver fitting. Blades and fittings were usually made in different places. The most famous split is between Amuzgi ( blades) and Kubachi ( mountings), but there were dozens potential combinations and permutations. After the Russian conquest of the Caucasus, weaponmaking became decorative rather than practical, and was concentrated in the cities,- Tiflis, Vladikavkaz etc. Workshops were established, and individual masters from all over were employed. Traditions became mixed, and it is no longer possible to define something as "Avar work", for example, because one could order any style from the same workshop or even individual master.

Keurk is an Armenian name, but Armenians were the main workforce in the new tourist industry, and there must have been dozens of them. Blades were remounted or made anew from the newly-available spring steel, although owners like Zinaida Koshtoyanz stubbornly employed blades made by a Chechen master Chilla.

Same places made silver trinkets, like cigarette holders, tea glass holders, drinking horns, studs etc. Everybody in Russia wanted something "Caucasian", and the inherently-Oriental marrket responded to the demand with enthusiasm. Imperial Russia conquered the Caucasus, but the Caucasus conquered Russian imagination.

All in all, anything after ~1870 became a tourist item.

3rd March 2010, 12:33 PM	#13
ariel Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Ann Arbor, MI Posts: 5,503	Here we are on thin grounds: the inscription is on the throat silver fitting. Blades and fittings were usually made in different places. The most famous split is between Amuzgi ( blades) and Kubachi ( mountings), but there were dozens potential combinations and permutations. After the Russian conquest of the Caucasus, weaponmaking became decorative rather than practical, and was concentrated in the cities,- Tiflis, Vladikavkaz etc. Workshops were established, and individual masters from all over were employed. Traditions became mixed, and it is no longer possible to define something as "Avar work", for example, because one could order any style from the same workshop or even individual master. Keurk is an Armenian name, but Armenians were the main workforce in the new tourist industry, and there must have been dozens of them. Blades were remounted or made anew from the newly-available spring steel, although owners like Zinaida Koshtoyanz stubbornly employed blades made by a Chechen master Chilla. Same places made silver trinkets, like cigarette holders, tea glass holders, drinking horns, studs etc. Everybody in Russia wanted something "Caucasian", and the inherently-Oriental marrket responded to the demand with enthusiasm. Imperial Russia conquered the Caucasus, but the Caucasus conquered Russian imagination. All in all, anything after ~1870 became a tourist item.