The Problem of Interpreting the Image on the State Seal of the City of Kuznetsk (1694) in the Context of the Old Russian Artistic Tradition

This article aims to study the image on the Kuznetsk state seal of 1694 within the framework of the Old Russian artistic culture. The research is based on the archival records, analysis of the Old Russian Art samples, catalogues of seals, coins, icons. Methods applied are the comparative historical method, the problem method, chronological analysis, semiotic analysis. Numerous catalogues of the Siberian seals of 1635, 1656, 1692, two versions of the Tax Book of Siberia of 1697, and the evidence of G.F. Miller in the 18th century say that the seal of Kuznetsk bears a wolf on it. However, the image on the seal of 1694 in various historiographical and reference works is interpreted as a horse. The horse was first mentioned in 1981 by N.A. Soboleva, whose well-known book Russian City and Regional Heraldry of the 18th-19th Centuries describes the seal of Kuznetsk as bearing a horse. She referred to P. Ivanov's Collection of Pictures of Ancient Seals on Charters and Other Legal Acts Stored in the Moscow Archive of the Ministry of Justice, which actually does not contain such information. Soboleva's interpretation was cited in various research and reference publications, but there were no detailed and comprehensive studies of the issue, especially in the context of the Old Russian artistic culture. Therefore, the authors of the article first refer to the Old Russian artistic tradition to solve the classification problem when studying the image on the Kuznetsk seal of 1694. When selecting images of wolves, the authors primarily focused on examples, in which the text directly named a wolf. There are recurrent themes in Old Russian art depicting wolves: the Battle of Kulikovo, Sergius of Radonezh and beasts, a series of icons "Praise the Lord from the Heaven". There are links of the Kuznetsk image with the Old Russian tradition of drawing a beast and a wolf. Numerous transitional forms of depicting a beast and a wolf were identified. No obvious analogies with the tradition of drawing a horse in the Old Russian art were revealed. Thus, the article introduces previously unknown facts about the state seal of Kuznetsk in the 17th - early 18th centuries found in the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts (Moscow). The article shows various aspects of the animal symbols evolution on city emblems and coats of arms and analyzes deep relations between the Kuznetsk emblem and the Old Russian, Byzantine, and Oriental arts. It also shows the danger of making uncritical conclusions about old artistic images based on modern associations.

Keywords

Authors

References