Ордена России | страница 8

Every Order had its statute and seal. Visitors will find on display genuine statutes of nearly all Russian orders together with their insignias in the halls of the State Armoury Chamber. The collection of Russian regalia popularizes the history of the appearance and development of the system of Russian decorations and gives an insight into the specific branch of jewelry art. The very first orders were made by the Armoury's masters and in the 18th-beginning of the 19th centuries-this work was entrusted to the best jewellers of St. Petersburg. The 19th century saw the appearance of craftshops and major firms making order insignias of all kinds which employed gold- and silver-smiths, painters and enamellers. High quality processing of the precious metal, radiance and pureness of the enamel of a wide range of tints, the play of light in diamonds lent each and every order an artistic value and inimitable beauty.

V. NIKITINA Head of the Numismatics Section of the State Museums of the Moscow Kremlin.

Translated by A. ZDORNYKH.

В состав государственных регалий наряду с короной, державой и скипетром входили большая цепь ордена Андрея Первозванного с крестом и звезда.

Выполненные в конце XVIII в. для коронации Павла I, в последующие годы они без переделки, как символы государственной власти, использовались для коронации русских императоров. Поражают необычайная роскошь и ювелирное мастерство исполнения всей этой группы предметов. Обращает на себя особенное внимание ажурная орденская цепь - с ослепительным блеском бриллиантового кружева, композиционным совершенством и четким ритмом рисунка. Эти орденские знаки имеют огромную историческую, художественную ценность и представляют большой интерес как образцы ювелирного искусства.

Grand imperial chpin, insignia and star of tie Order of St. Andrew the First-Cabled, 1735-1800.

Gold, silver, diamonds, enamel.

(The USSR Diamond Fund)

The Russian state regalias alongside with the crown, the orb and the sceptre included the grand chain of the Order of St Andrew the

First-Called with the cross and the star.

Executed at the end of the 18th century' for the occasion of the coronation of Paul I, they were used without alterations in the following years as the symbols of state power for the coronations of Russian emperors. An exceptional splendour and the skill with which these intricate objects were made truly boggle imagination. What attracts the greatest attention is the open-work order chain with its dazzling glitter of the diamond lace, perfection of composition and precise rhythm of the pattern.