There is an antique wall clock of the Mamins in the dining room of the house-museum. They were manufactured by the trading house of “M. P. Kalaschnikoff & Fils” in the middle of the 19th century.

The writer’s father, Narkis Mamin, bought a clock at the Visimo-Shaitansky factory in 1856 — at that time Dmitry Mamin-Sibiryak was only four years old. In 1878, the family moved to Yekaterinburg and took this piece of furniture into their new home. The writer recalled that every year by the striking of this clock, the Mamins celebrated the New Year.

The clock was kept in the family; its last owner was Mamin-Sibiryak’s nephew Boris Udintsev. He brought the device from Moscow to Yekaterinburg and in 1952 presented it to the collection of the house-museum.

The wall clock has a wooden case, which is painted black and varnished on top. Painted clock face made of paper is located in the middle, behind the glass. The clock hands are made of iron. The bottom and top of the case are decorated with floral ornaments and gold scrolls.

The mechanism was equipped with two suspended weights and a pendulum on a chain — they served as a source of energy. On the side, there is a small window to wind up the clock.

Company “M. P. Kalaschnikoff” was owned by Mikhail Kalaschnikoff and was one of the most famous trading houses in Moscow. It had existed since 1832, selling clocks wholesale and retail. After the son joined the family business in the 1880s, the organization was renamed to “M. P. Kalaschnikoff & Fils”.

The trading house cooperated directly with manufacturers of clocks and jukeboxes in Europe. Kalaschnikoff brought mechanisms from Great Britain. Since they could only play English tunes, he hired craftsmen who reassembled the clocks, tuning them to native music.

One of the popular models was a clock made by the British company “Hendley & Moore”. Workers in the workshops at the Trading House reconstructed the mechanism, putting the inscription on the face clock “M. P. Kalaschnikoff & Fils Trading House in Moscow” in the old spelling and sold thes2e clocks under the Russian mark.

Kalaschnikoff’s company existed until 1917. After the revolution, the State Trust for Precision Mechanics was established on the basis of the trading house and continued to produce clocks.

Полное наименование: Wall clock of the trading house “M. P. Kalaschnikoff & Fils”
Дата создания: the second half of the 19th century
Техника: wood, metal, mixed technique
Размеры: 35.5×23.5×14.5 cm
Коллекция: United Museum of Ural Writers (UMUW)
Правообладатель изображений: United Museum of Ural Writers (UMUW)

The museum houses a nickel-plated samovar that was made at the Teile factory in Tula at the end of the 19th century. It sits on a large table in the dining room. This room was originally a cold seni (a type of mudroom). In the 1890s and 1900s, the house was rebuilt, the room was insulated, and the Mamins began to gather here for dinners and tea parties.

Later, Dmitry Mamin-Sibiryak wrote a book “From the Distant Past”, based on his childhood memories.

The samovar is a metal vessel inside of which water was boiled. The top of the body is covered with a layer of nickel. The metal protected the surface from corrosion and gave it a silver shine. The name of the device came from the expression “self-brewer” — some of the pieces could even cook porridge and soup.

The first vessels that heated themselves appeared in ancient times in Iran, China and ancient Greece. Inside them, there was a special hole, where hot coals were loaded. Samovars started to be made in Russia in the middle of the 18th century. The devices soon became a symbol of peasant and noble life.

There were different shapes and sizes of samovars — these parameters depended on the orders of the customers. In addition to the traditional round body, there were pieces in the form of an Easter egg, a rooster and a vase.

The tradition of drinking tea appeared together with the samovar. It first spread among the wealthy city dwellers, and later spread in Russian villages. The ritual of tea-drinking in the nobility was similar to the English one: tea was drunk once or twice a day. It was served on a separate table, and then, the mistress of the house poured the drink for the guests. This was considered an honorable duty, which could be entrusted only to the eldest daughter.

The Russian tea party had a special tradition. They served sweets, bread, cookies and cream with hot tea. In merchant and middle-class circles, it was customary to boil water in a samovar throughout the day, just in case guests came over unexpectedly. Tea was most often served on bright, colored tablecloths.

Полное наименование: Nickel-plated samovar
Дата создания: the late 19th century
Техника: metal, wood, casting, stamping, nickel plating
Размеры: 41.5×33×31 cm
Правообладатель изображений: United Museum of Ural Writers (UMUW)
Коллекция: United Museum of Ural Writers (UMUW)
Место создания: factory Russian Empire, Tula, factory B.G. Teile