The armchair from the collection of the Local History Museum of Kopeysk City District is made in the form of a throne. The front legs are S-shaped in the shape of animal paws, and the backs are crowned with a pair of lion heads. Soft armrests are completed with carved images of lions. The armchair is made of oak, while the seat, back, and upper part of the armrests are upholstered with imitation leather in black.
A carved image of a lion’s head on the armrests is called a mascaron. A mascaron is a sculptural decoration depicting the face of a person, the face of an animal, or a fantastic creature. Mascarons are usually placed on locks of arches, window, and door openings, on fountains, as well as on furniture and vessels.
The armchair, along with other pieces of furniture, makes up a suite in the same style. The suite is dominated by massive forms and animalistic motifs typical of French Baroque furniture by Andre-Charles Boule. In general, the transferred furniture items can be attributed to the period of historical retrospectivism and date back to the second half of the 19th century. The style of retrospectivism is a little-studied phenomenon in the history of Russian furniture of the 19th - 20th centuries. Furniture in the style of retrospectivism was called “stylish” by contemporaries. Such furniture could be similar to the interior of various epochs ranging from the Renaissance to the Baroque. This term meant items of furniture that could easily be attributed to a certain historical era. Thus, in the interior, there were “gothic” chairs, screens in the “Chinese style”, and the armchairs in the “Renaissance style”.
According to memoirs and documents, the presented armchair, along with other items from the suite, is a gift from Mikhail Kalinin, Chairman of the Central Executive Committee and the first Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. In November 1920, with the propaganda train “October Revolution”, Kalinin visited the Chelyabinsk Coal Mines, thus speaking to the workers Kalinin presented valuable gifts to the most distinguished miners. He visited the Mines again nine years later, i.e. in the year the village’s only club, the People’s House, burned down. Miners from old memory turned to Kalinin with a request to assist in the construction of a new building. The all-union headman was attentive to the request of the miners and helped to build not just a club for the miners, but the Palace of Culture. On his personal instructions, this Palace was furnished with furniture from the former royal mansions and noble estates of Leningrad. Some old things became exhibits of our museum in 1979. Among them is the presented armchair.
A carved image of a lion’s head on the armrests is called a mascaron. A mascaron is a sculptural decoration depicting the face of a person, the face of an animal, or a fantastic creature. Mascarons are usually placed on locks of arches, window, and door openings, on fountains, as well as on furniture and vessels.
The armchair, along with other pieces of furniture, makes up a suite in the same style. The suite is dominated by massive forms and animalistic motifs typical of French Baroque furniture by Andre-Charles Boule. In general, the transferred furniture items can be attributed to the period of historical retrospectivism and date back to the second half of the 19th century. The style of retrospectivism is a little-studied phenomenon in the history of Russian furniture of the 19th - 20th centuries. Furniture in the style of retrospectivism was called “stylish” by contemporaries. Such furniture could be similar to the interior of various epochs ranging from the Renaissance to the Baroque. This term meant items of furniture that could easily be attributed to a certain historical era. Thus, in the interior, there were “gothic” chairs, screens in the “Chinese style”, and the armchairs in the “Renaissance style”.
According to memoirs and documents, the presented armchair, along with other items from the suite, is a gift from Mikhail Kalinin, Chairman of the Central Executive Committee and the first Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. In November 1920, with the propaganda train “October Revolution”, Kalinin visited the Chelyabinsk Coal Mines, thus speaking to the workers Kalinin presented valuable gifts to the most distinguished miners. He visited the Mines again nine years later, i.e. in the year the village’s only club, the People’s House, burned down. Miners from old memory turned to Kalinin with a request to assist in the construction of a new building. The all-union headman was attentive to the request of the miners and helped to build not just a club for the miners, but the Palace of Culture. On his personal instructions, this Palace was furnished with furniture from the former royal mansions and noble estates of Leningrad. Some old things became exhibits of our museum in 1979. Among them is the presented armchair.
