The secret of the serf Vershinin, which has not been solved for 200 years

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

More than 200 years ago, the serf master Alexander Vershinin created unique two-layer glasses, between the walls of which there were whole paintings, more precisely, small models of landscapes made of pebbles, moss, straw, colored threads and paper. Until now, no one has managed to understand the secret of their manufacture and reproduce such products.

The Nikolsky Glass Factory in the Penza Region was founded in 1764 by the landowner Bakhmetyev by order of Catherine II - "to make crystal and glassware for the most solid craftsmen …". Samples of products were brought here from European countries, on which the local Bakhmetyevsk craftsmen should have learned.

Craftsmen at work

Grinding shop of the plant

And they, very quickly mastered all the wisdom of glass making, were able not only to repeat European samples, but also brought their unique style into the production of glass products.

Page from the catalog of Bakhmetyev's enterprise

There are a lot of complex blow molds …

To decorate their products, the craftsmen used matte engraving, diamond cutting, painting in gold, silver, and paints. The ancient decoration technique was also used - filigree (Venetian thread).

Products of the Bakhmetyevsk plant

Ball with a flower bed inside, 1830 Millefiori technique - a million flowers. A kind of ancient technique, when the pattern is made using thin glass holes, fused into the thickness of the glass

Crystal crucifix. A small porcelain crucifix is melted into the thickness of the crystal cross, 1830

A vase on a leg with floral painting. Mid-19th century.

Vase with colored drops - imitation of precious stones, 1860-80

Venetian thread vase

Refrigerator decanter

Large vase for fruit. Crystal, silver, Russian stone carving. Design by K. Faberge"

Apparatus for beer Gold medal at the exhibition in Paris 1900

Glass virtuoso A. Vershinin

Many talented glaziers grew up within the walls of the plant, but the most outstanding of them was Alexander Vershinin. Many of the works of this master are unique. But he proved himself not only as a virtuoso glazier, but also as a chemist and as an artist.

"Master Alexander Vershinin". Artist A. S. Shurshilov (1917-1971). The portrait is fictitious, since Vershinin's photographs have not survived

Vershinin made sets by order of the royal family, glasses decorated on the theme of the war of 1812, wine glasses and decanters with the grand ducal coats of arms …

For one of the sets made by Vershinin for the tsar's table, for 70 persons, the emperor-emperor "deigned to the master Vershinin a gold watch, expressing his pleasure that the crystal finishing in Russia has been brought to such perfection."

But most of all, this master became famous for his unique glasses, which are now called “Verkhininskie” glasses.

Here we will talk about them …

The famous glasses of Vershinin

How many of these masterpieces have survived to this day is not known exactly. Some of them are in private collections and only occasionally "surface" at auctions, a few are kept in museums.

One of these glasses was exhibited in the Nikolsky Museum, being his pride.

OK. 1800 Bakhmetyevsk plant colorless glass, grass, stones, paper, painting in gold and sepia "/> Double-walled glass

OK. 1800 BCBakhmetyevsk plant colorless glass, grass, stones, paper, painting in gold and sepia

Back side glass

The walls of this glass depict a whole landscape - in the park of the Bakhmetyevs' estate, gentlemen walk with the ladies, children play nearby, ducks and geese swim in the pond, birds sit on the branches of trees, a complete idyll … It seems to be nothing special, but surprising is that all this the composition is not painted, but made of straw, thin twigs, moss, paper and is inside glass. How could this be done and not burn the layout when glasses are made at a very high temperature?

Unfortunately, you can no longer admire this glass. In August 1996, this masterpiece was stolen from the museum and has not yet been found.

Several more similar glasses with different subjects depicted on them are kept in other museum collections.

A glass kept in the Yegoryevsk Art and History Museum

At the Tropinin Museum in Moscow

From the collection of Fyodor Viktorovich and Ekaterina Petrovna Lemkul

The "Vershinin's glasses" also turned out to be in the USA.

Corning Glass Museum, New York

The secret of Vershinin's unique glasses

For a long time, the manufacturing technology of these glasses remained a complete mystery, but later, when examining one such glass with a small chip along the edge, they found that it had double walls, and the composition was placed not in the glass, but between the walls.

And, nevertheless, a number of mysteries remain that leave specialists in admiration and bewilderment: How the master attached his models to the glass - the glasses are completely transparent, and no traces of glue are visible on them. How did I manage to insert one glass into another so that the picture does not slide out - there is practically no gap between the glasses. And, finally, how he sealed the walls of the glasses from above, while leaving the whole composition intact.

In recent years, purely theoretical options have been proposed on how to do this. Ice can be used as glue. First, the picture is applied to a wet surface, which is then frozen. Later, when the glasses are inserted into each other, the ice is melted. In order to insert one glass into another, the outer glass is heated, and the inner one is cooled. The gap between them increases, and the glasses are carefully inserted into one another, using, for example, straws as guides.

And for welding the edges of the glass, you can coat them with phosphorus and set them on fire like fireworks. A large amount of heat will be released, which will be sufficient for local welding. Or it is possible that the edges are not welded, but simply filled with special mastic. But even if this is so, it is still a very painstaking and laborious work, which only a real virtuoso can do. But so far no one has tried to repeat it.

There is information that one Moscow family is the owner of one completely unique - not even a two-layer, but a three-layer glass. Of course, its price is fabulous. That is why information about this glass is extremely scarce and not disclosed. But maybe this unique glass will one day find its way to the museum, and the great Russian master Alexander Vershinin will still surprise us?