Светлана Жарникова – The Distaff and the phallic cult (страница 9)

Biryakovsky spinning wheels are distinguished by the sparseness of the geometric pattern. They, as a rule, were not painted, but in later versions they were painted like mahogany, decorated with applied copper plates and inlaid with pieces of mirrored glass. Small copper plaques were attached to a loop, and with each movement the spinning wheel made a ringing sound. This was explained by the fact that a family of master accordionists was engaged in decorating local spinning wheels.

Mezhdurechensk spinning wheels are distinguished by a slightly narrowed downward blade shape, large rounded towns, the absence of earrings, and also an elegant leg with curly edges. The trihedral-notched carving on these spinning wheels was complemented by brush painting, the floral patterns of which resembled chintz.

On the territory of the Velikodvorsky village council, there were two types of spinning wheels - with a square and an elongated blade.

N. A. Shabunin "Travel to North". 1906

The first should be attributed to the Totem type. Its blade is crowned with 4-5 large rhombic towns, separated from each other by deep round cutouts. The two earrings on the lower part of the blade exactly follow the shape of the towns. The spinning wheel is slightly tapered upward.

Spinning wheels of the Verkhne-Tolshmensky village council have an original blade end with three large towns in the shape of a trefoil or a circle. Large earrings usually follow the shape of the towns. The spinning wheel's leg and blade are covered with fine triangular-notched carvings. In the center of the composition is a solar socket.

Not far from Tolshma on the territory of Sovega, now part of the Soligalichsky district of the Kostroma region, there was another original type of the Totem spinning wheel with a figured blade, the towns and earrings of which were made in the form of large bizarre curls resembling stylized heads of horses. A five-petal flower rose between the towns. In the center of the composition of the blade, decorated with a trihedral-notched carving, a rosette in a square was usually cut out.

And, finally, one of the later varieties of the Totem spinning wheel was the so-called "Solomenka", the area of existence of which was quite extensive and covered the territory of the Verkhne-Tolshmensky, Manylovsky, Nikolsky and Velikodvorsky village councils. The main distinguishing feature of this type of spinning wheel was zigzag patterns, laid out with multi-colored straw. In the center of the blade is a solar rosette, at the top of it there are four small towns in the form of horns facing each other, at the bottom there are straight hanging round earrings. The widespread use of these spinning wheels was due to the fact that they were made for sale in an artisanal way.

Vologda spinning wheels

Vologda spinning wheels-kopyls easily stand out among others for their impressive size: they are not only higher than all other types of Russian spinning wheels, but also have a much larger, massive blade slightly widened downward. In A.A. Bobrinsky's album, the Vologda spinning wheels are attributed to the second type. They were always carved from a monolithic piece of wood, most often from spruce or pine.

The upper part of the blade of the Vologda spinning wheel is usually decorated with a number of round, rhombic, or arrow-shaped townships, although sometimes towns are replaced with plant motifs or three gentle projections.

The Vologda "shovel-shaped" spinning wheels were most widely used in the Verkhovazhsky, Tarnogsky, Nyuksensky and - partially - Totemsky districts of the region.

A distinctive feature of the Nyuksen "kopyls" were ringing "necklaces" - rows of round through holes into which glass or wooden beads or colored pebbles were inserted, which emitted a characteristic sound with each movement of the spinning wheel. Most often, the three-edged beveled carving on Nyuksen spinning wheels was combined with bright oil painting.

Massive Tarnogo spinning wheels with a small figured leg were usually decorated with two round earrings or semicircular cuts. A huge blade decorated with three-sided carvings was crowned with diamond-shaped towns or three gently sloping ledges.

The Verkhovazhsky spinning wheels were distinguished by a double semi-oval blade end and three round towns framing it. The lower part of the blade was decorated with two semicircular cuts. Many of the Verkhovazhsky spinning wheels were covered with original floral painting.

On the territory of the Totemsky district, there were also spinning wheels of the Vologda type: these should include the aforementioned spinning wheels of Velikyodvorie with an elongated blade, as well as spinning wheels of Songuga, Seredsky, Zaozerye, Nizhnyaya Pecheny, Medvedevsky and Matveyevsky village councils. A characteristic feature of Velikyodvorie spinning wheels with an elongated blade is six through holes with bindings: three in the upper part of the blade under the triangular towns, and three in the lower part, above two semicircular cuts. The local name for such a spinning wheel is “about six windows”.

The same slotted windows with bindings are present in the decor of spinning wheels from Zaozerye. However, there are only two of them and they are located almost in the center of the blade, under the through arches and the openwork slotted lattice of the cruciform shape. The lower part of the blade is decorated with two round earrings facing the stem.

Seredsky's spinning wheels are similar in shape and decoration to those of Tarnog, but differ from them in a smaller blade size. The Sundug spinning wheels are distinguished by massive rounded earrings resembling stylized skate heads in shape. The shape of the Matveyev spinning wheels almost repeated the Zaozersk and Sredsky ones, but much more often than the latter were covered with flower painting, in the motives and floral scale of which the influence of the Molvitin masters of the Kostroma province was guessed.

The spinning wheels of Nizhnyaya Bakery are very massive. A huge blade is crowned with three (less often - four) round towns located on the tops of gentle ledges. The lower part of the blade is decorated with earrings of the same shape.

Severodvinsk spinning wheels

The Severodvinsk painted spinning wheel-kopyl is very close in design to the Vologda type, although it is somewhat inferior to it in size. The main distinguishing feature of this type of spinning wheel is the graphic white-background painting or “painting with a contour”, in which the master did not make independent strokes, but only filled in the previously contoured parts of the plane.

Researchers have divided Severodvinsk painting into three independent types: Permogorsk, Rakul and Boretskaya. On the basis of the latter, at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, two more varieties of local painting developed - Puchuzhskaya and Nizhneoyemskaya.

The most significant among them is the Permogorsk painting, which includes products by masters from the villages of the Wet Edom nest. It is based on small floral ornament, among which various scenes of peasant life are placed. The front side of the blade of the Permogorsk spinning wheel was divided into either two or three "staves". In the two-step scheme, the bird of paradise Sirin, framed by a toothed rosette, usually stirred at the top, and sienna of tea drinking or skating below. The reverse side of the blade was always decorated in the same way: at the bottom - a floral pattern, at the top - an empty ornamental frame, which was closed by a tow.

On the three-fold blade at the top, a lion and a unicorn were most often depicted, in the center - the supra-row, below - horseback riding. On the reverse side is a feast. The color range of Permogorsk painting is dominated by red and yellow colors on a white (sometimes yellowish) background. Art critics believe that the main elements of the pattern and the color scheme of painting in Permogorye have much in common with the ornamentation of ancient Russian manuscripts of the Pomor (18th century) and especially Belevsk (19th century) schools.

“The folk masters of the Northern Dvina used the wonderful traditions of the Old Russian book,” writes O. V. Kruglova, “where illustrations were like a second text for the illiterate, and the principles of church wall painting, where a consistent story in the images of fine art made it possible to “read” this plot to each".

Among the masters of Permogorye, the most famous were Yakov Ivanovich and Yegor Maksimovich Yarygin, Alexander Lukyanovich Misharin and the Khripunov brothers - Dmitry, Peter and Vasily.

As already indicated, the image of Sirin dominated in the Permogorsk painting. Images of a bird of paradise could be found not only on the blades of spinning wheels, but also on many other items of peasant life. It is noteworthy that the fabulous image of the Sirin bird was especially popular in the Russian North: it is practically not found in the famous Gorodets carving and painting. This suggests that the image of the mysterious and fatal bird-maiden, allegedly coming from Greece or from the East, did not just appeal to the inhabitants of the North, but turned out to be familiar to them and - quite possibly - even relatives. Most likely, here we should talk about the general Indo-European sources of this ancient image.