Russian Powderflask???

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Originally Posted by ariel

It looks much later to me: very late 19th - beginning of the 20th century.
Very old Russian enamels were of high artistic quality , culminating in Faberge's works. The centers were in St. Petersburgh and, especially, Moscow for religious use and expensive utilitarian objects This one ( Cloissone, as Dom correctly mentioned) is a pretty crude one, with inaccurate soldering, crooked posting of the spout, a lot of flaking of the enamel, it's uneven thickness, spilling of one color onto another, cheap chain and very rough cast decorations of the face ( Peter's, very likely) and the imperial eagle. The colors are of a garish provincial taste. Mass production of a small enterprise. Nothing bad about it, it is a delightful trinket, but not earlier than the end of the 19th century.

BTW, cloissone work is essentially identical to filigree, only with the enameling step. Filigree is used very often on contemporary Caucasian souvenirs ( kindjals, cups, vases etc) and is viewed there as a job for quickly-trained beginners. Nothing sophisticated; they hire 17 y.o. girls and those are mass-producing it on the second day of work.

If I am correct about it's dating, it is unlikely to be a powder flask: black powder was very much on it's way out.

Salaams ariel... Good point ! I stand corrected methinks. Having checked Faberge Russian cloissonne' I see that all the bodies are either silver or gold and as you point out the chain is not in the quality range ... I further note from the web that~ "Most existing Byzantine enamels have soldered cloisons, however the use of solder to adhere the cloison wires has fallen out of favor due to its difficulty, with the exception of some "purist contemporary enamellists" who create fine watch faces and high quality very expensive jewelry. Instead of soldering the cloisons to the base metal, the base metal is fired with a thin layer of clear enamel. The cloisonné wire is glued to the enamel surface with gum tragacanth. When the gum has dried, the piece is fired again to fuse the cloisonné wire to the clear enamel. The gum burns off, leaving no residue".
I also note that 3 different techniques exist ie flat concave and convex. Overall it looks like as you say late 19th cheap copy and who knows what it was used for... trinket?...
Regards Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

[mjamerks]

Originally Posted by Ibrahiim al Balooshi

Salaams ariel... Good point ! I stand corrected methinks. Having checked Faberge Russian cloissonne' I see that all the bodies are either silver or gold and as you point out the chain is not in the quality range ... I further note from the web that~ "Most existing Byzantine enamels have soldered cloisons, however the use of solder to adhere the cloison wires has fallen out of favor due to its difficulty, with the exception of some "purist contemporary enamellists" who create fine watch faces and high quality very expensive jewelry. Instead of soldering the cloisons to the base metal, the base metal is fired with a thin layer of clear enamel. The cloisonné wire is glued to the enamel surface with gum tragacanth. When the gum has dried, the piece is fired again to fuse the cloisonné wire to the clear enamel. The gum burns off, leaving no residue".
I also note that 3 different techniques exist ie flat concave and convex. Overall it looks like as you say late 19th cheap copy and who knows what it was used for... trinket?...
Regards Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

Thanks for your opinions.
My feeling says this piece is from around 1850,and probably
made by a local village workshop.
I dont think you can compare this piece with Faberge works,as they made a total differnt quality for rich customers.
Cloisonne techniques were used by many craftsman in all different qualities.
As for its function booze or blackpowder I am not sure.
Rgds
Martin