Wine ladle, Russia, 1691
Record status
Individual type · partial
Period
1691
Wine ladle in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (museum number M.165-1923), made in Russia, dated 1691. The museum's brief description reads: Wine ladle (kovsh), partially gilded silver, engraved, Russia, 1691. Museum description: Shallow oval ladle raised from a single sheet with a badge showing a double-headed eagle set in the base beside a crest, engraved with foliage and scrollwork in Floral Baroque style, with Russian inscription around outer rim. The museum records it as Silver, parcel-gilt, engraved, measuring Height 11.60 cm; Length 30.50 cm; Width 18.50 cm. These details come from the museum's own record; how far this object represents a wider collectible type has not yet been independently verified.
Evidence at a glance
- Linked sources
- 1
- Photograph views
- 1
- Catalogue references
- 0
Counts describe this entry’s documentation, not authenticity, rarity or completeness. Photographs may show one specimen; check each caption and licence.
Historical context
The kovsh, an oval drinking vessel, first appeared in Russia in the mid 14th century. It was variously used as a ladle, container or drinking vessel. At a celebration in the Kremlin Palace in 1667 the lord high stewards of the Tsar served wine in silver beakers but red or white mead in gold and silver kovshi. Large ones were presented as rewards for service. From the 1650s it appears from surviving examples that only profitable tax collectors and Cossack chieftains loyal to the Russian Empire were rewarded kovshi. This one was presented to Kadashevets Lareshnov (in Russian, Petr Ivanov) of the Kazan Tartar family of Lebedev, for collecting taxes exceeding the estimated total in the Russian year [7]199 (1691).
Physical characteristics
- Material
- Silver, parcel-gilt, engraved
- Dimensions
- Height 11.60 cm; Length 30.50 cm; Width 18.50 cm
Technical characteristics
- Technique
- Silver, parcel-gilt, engraved
- Place recorded
- Russia
Design
- Inscriptions recorded
- Cyrillic inscription in medallions Around the lip engraved in cyrillic: 'Favoured with this ladle Kadashevets Lareshnov, Peter, son of Ivan [son] Lebedev in that being at Sevsk at the collection of customs and at Pitienaya he came and in this year brought forth for this present hundred and ninety and ninth year three hundred and five rubles, seven altyns in money.'; Unmarked
Identification
- Museum object name
- Wine ladle
- Museum object number
- M.165-1923
- Museum system number
- O91392
Catalogue references
No catalogue numbers recorded. Numbers are only published once transcribed from a verified edition of a standard catalogue — they are never inferred.
Research required
- Research required: confirm the wider type, maker and catalogue references against a specialist reference.