Izrazets as a phenomenon of Russian culture: sources and study

Tile occupies an outstanding place among items left by material culture of Russia of the 16^th-20^th centuries. In Russia this name was assigned to a ceramic product that has a special construction for fastening to wall (a rump) and a decor on its face side. Decor of the 16^th and 17^th centuries could be relief or covered with glazing, plain or polychrome. In the 18^th century tiles had a flat white enameled surface and painting. Both technologies are employed since the end of the 19^th century. As the author proves, tiles in Russia originated in the West. Moreover, imaginative and technological impulses from the West came to Russia repeatedly. At the same time its assimilation and development in Moscow Tzardom and later on, in the Russian Empire made the tiles one of the principal markers of the national culture. In many respects it is connected with the use of tiles for furnace plating which is the central feature of traditional Russian homes. In Russia they were used widely - in decoration of facades of churches, palaces and other public places - as widely as they were used nowhere in Europe. Also, the use of tiles was immanent to the Russian architecture of the second half of the 19^th-early 20^th centuries, and to Soviet architecture of the 1930s-1950s. Due to the long and active development, the tile has become a valuable historical source. It reflected refinement of technology, assimilation of new imaginative tastes, growth of striving to comfort in everyday life. Tiles in Russia played a considerable role as means of enlightenment, public communication, propaganda and for differentiating social status. Material of glazed tiles allows to solve the tasks of relations of social strata, mutual work of a customer and a performer, as well as ‘eternal’ issues of the Russian history. Spatial distribution of tiles also serves as a good marker of territorial movement of the culture (especially in territories beyond Urals). Architects, historians and archeologists began to study the Russian tiles in the mid 19^th century. By the beginning of the 20^th century, technology historians and designers, including avant-garde artists and restorer architects, had joined the research. A special laboratory worked under the leadership of A. V. Phillipov. Currently, working with tiles is extremely relevant for museums, because tile is a very numerous type of objects. Certain problems arise with ascertaining of items’ originality. Dating of separate items also rises questions. Over the past 10 years, archaeologists have conducted a number of studies, the results of which have significantly changed the information base of the tile history. That can be said about the moment of its advent (excavations in Moscow Kremlin and Novodevichiy). Then tiles were transformed into high priority imaginative product due to construction of New Jerusalem monastery. A massive material is collected for the study of Russian tiles history in the new and newest time, up to the epoch of the avant-garde. The author declares no conflicts of interests.

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