The box settle comes from the collection of art furniture from the estate of Counts Uvarov “Red Mountain” in the village of Karacharovo, near Murom. The settle is one of the sets of oak furniture that decorated the residential interiors of the manor house.
The last owners of the Karacharovsky estate, Alexey Sergeevich (1825-1884) and Praskovya Sergeevna (1840-1924) are famous Russian scientists, archaeologists, great connoisseurs and collectors of antiquities. Their ancestors, the Sheremetevs and the Razumovsky began to collect the furniture. Many exemplars of art furniture of the XVIII-XIX centuries were acquired during the travels of the Uvarov spouses in Europe.
The box settle in the form of a box with a lifting top and a low back is a fine example of the work of German furniture makers of the XIX century, made in the Renaissance style. The birthplace of this style was Italy. Since the second half of the XV century, the furniture makers paid a great attention to details in the decoration of furniture: chiselled feet, carved architectural details and curved lines in addition to strict rectangular shapes. The box from the museum collection is richly decorated with carvings. The elbow rests are decorated with stylized lion figures. At the ends there is a relief image of a cherub in plant shoots. The lower panel has three carved panels with images of two masks and a cherub.
The box settle refers to the furniture for sitting and storage. It is called the ancestor of sofa. Thanks to the texture of stained oak and relief carving, the box looks massive, solid and expensive. Stained oak is a very valuable and rare material. It is the wood of an ordinary oak that has lain in water for more than one hundred, and sometimes a thousand years. Lying on the bottom of the river under a layer of silt in the absence of oxygen and being saturated with iron and other chemical elements contained in the water, oak wood acquires unique properties for which it is very highly valued. Oak wood contains special substances — tannins, so-called tanning agents, which are a natural preservative. It is thanks to them that the oak does not undergo decomposition.
Pieces of furniture made of stained oak were used in the aristocratic interiors of European castles and large manor houses until the XX century.
The last owners of the Karacharovsky estate, Alexey Sergeevich (1825-1884) and Praskovya Sergeevna (1840-1924) are famous Russian scientists, archaeologists, great connoisseurs and collectors of antiquities. Their ancestors, the Sheremetevs and the Razumovsky began to collect the furniture. Many exemplars of art furniture of the XVIII-XIX centuries were acquired during the travels of the Uvarov spouses in Europe.
The box settle in the form of a box with a lifting top and a low back is a fine example of the work of German furniture makers of the XIX century, made in the Renaissance style. The birthplace of this style was Italy. Since the second half of the XV century, the furniture makers paid a great attention to details in the decoration of furniture: chiselled feet, carved architectural details and curved lines in addition to strict rectangular shapes. The box from the museum collection is richly decorated with carvings. The elbow rests are decorated with stylized lion figures. At the ends there is a relief image of a cherub in plant shoots. The lower panel has three carved panels with images of two masks and a cherub.
The box settle refers to the furniture for sitting and storage. It is called the ancestor of sofa. Thanks to the texture of stained oak and relief carving, the box looks massive, solid and expensive. Stained oak is a very valuable and rare material. It is the wood of an ordinary oak that has lain in water for more than one hundred, and sometimes a thousand years. Lying on the bottom of the river under a layer of silt in the absence of oxygen and being saturated with iron and other chemical elements contained in the water, oak wood acquires unique properties for which it is very highly valued. Oak wood contains special substances — tannins, so-called tanning agents, which are a natural preservative. It is thanks to them that the oak does not undergo decomposition.
Pieces of furniture made of stained oak were used in the aristocratic interiors of European castles and large manor houses until the XX century.
