About the collector
I am glad to present you the catalog of my collection of samovars and bouillottes, that will allow you to discover lots of interesting things about the configuration of these items, to see and estimate their beauty, as many of them are true works of art.
The samovar appeared in XVIII century, although it quickly turned fr om the common household device for water heating into an actual decoration of the house. In XIX and XX centuries the samovar becomes the basis of Russian ceremony of tea drinking and an element of national cultural tradition. Till today, in Russia and abroad the samovar is remaining the symbol of hospitality and kindliness, friendly conversations and home coziness. In my collection there are more than 300 samovars, items of table appointments and other utensils made of copper and copper alloys, domestic and foreign manufacturing. Samovars of all kinds: heated with wood fuel, kerosene and electric.
The family of samovars varies extraordinary. These are authentic samovars for the actual boiling the water for tea, teapots-samovars (they became popular at the end of XVIII century, but also in XIX century they mainly used in travel), also the samovars, divided inside by a wall on several sections, samovars-kitchens used both for cooking food and boiling water at the same time, samovars-coffee pots with a special frame for a little bags with coffee, travel samovars (with demountable legs and sometimes even with the demountable tap), samovars of small volumes – "egoists", "tete-a-tete" and souvenir. All these variations are presented in my collection, beginning from an excellent model of travel samovar (factory of Pelageia Gudkova, Tula, KБ 149), to the original model of kerosene samovar (V. Polosatov manufacturing, Tula, KБ 090), that allows using its base as a kerosene lamp.
The samovar as an illustration of the unique phenomenon – Russian fine art metal – appeared in Ural. The first Russian manufacturers of samovars were the merchants Osokiny and Demidov (initially Akinfy Nikitich, and then Nikita Akinfievich). One of rare oldest samovars, (КБ 006), manufactured in a copper factory by Nikitas Akinfievich Demidov, is presented in my collection.
In the beginning of the XIXth century in Russia the largest samovar factory was the factory of Peter Silin (Moscow region). Over time, the center of samovar manufacturing moved to Tula. Most interesting items of famous Tula factories of the second half of the XIXth century (brothers Alexander and Vasily Batashev, brothers of Shemarin, Tejle family, Malikov, Vorontsov, Kapyrzin) are presented in my collection. Kerosene samovars appeared at the end of the XIXth century – in Tula they were made primarily at factory of the trading house «B.G.Tejle and sons». In Europe, in particular in Germany and Denmark, kerosene samovars were manufactured in very small parcels, predominantly for Russian consumers: in European tradition of tea drinking there were used teapots and bouillotes (from French bouillote – a small teapot or a hot-water bottle) instead of samovars.
The bouillote was filled with already boiled water, and thanks to the spirit-lamp that was burning under it, the necessary temperature of water was maintained. As a rule, the bouillote was smaller than the usual samovar, but it looked very similar to it. Most often the bouillote had the shape of the teapot, placed at the trivet, so the tulovo was removable, separated from the trivet-support, the crown and the internal pipe-brazier were missing. There were bouillote of different system – weights bouillotes: with an internal pipe wh ere the burning hot weight was sinking. Unlike the samovar's brazier, the pipe was blind with no ashpit. Though the samovars sometimes may have blind necks, with no holes in the brazier – in this case the air passes through the apertures in the bottom (the internal folding lid covering the neck from below), or the bottom was genarally missing. There are magnificent samples of English (John Taylor's company, Read and Barton's, Vilkoks) and American bouillotes (Sterling, Tafts), and also original set with bouillote, manufactured by «Read and Barton» company, made of platinum silver, with the Celtic fleeces, ingraved on a surface. One of the most original items – the bouillote "Parovoz" (manufactured by Frazhe, КБ 154), reconstituting all details of the steam locomotive with the tender.
By the end of XIX century in Russia there were several large centers of samovar and other «copper ware» manufacturing. First of all, it certainly was Tula – mass consumer oriented manufacuturing, therefore not too expensive «hot water boilers» were produced, all kinds of shapes and sizes. Moscow and Petersburg – Ksimantovsky factory, Petsa, Sevrjugin, Kondratyev and Dubinin were guided by more captuous buyers (Dubinin samovars were often decorated by plated silver, using white metal and cupronickel at manufacturing). Warsaw was keeping up as well –Frazhe, Pivkevich, Henneberg and brothers Boom's companies, basically produced elegant samovars-vases with a rich decor, as well as the buoilliots of all kinds. Samovars were also made in Ural Mountains and in Yaroslavl and Vladimir provinces.
The collection also presents not only devices, that were meant for heating, but the opposite ones, used for the opposite purposes, so-called fountains. They were used for seving chilled wine at the table, therefore the metal tab for ice was inserted inside the tulovo. In some "fountains", the blind pipe fixed in the center, served as the tank for ice. These gloriously decorated vessels, known in Russian everyday practice since the first decades of XVIII century, were used in palaces and houses of notable noblemen. They were brought from Western Europe, and overtime they became manufactured in Russia – here "fountains" were called refrigerators.
As a rule, samovars and other devices were made of copper and its alloys – brass and tombac. Samovars often platinized and then they got a beautiful greenish or brownish shade. Brass silvered with mercury or in a galvanic way or covered with thin sheet of silver (cladding). Cupronickel or its variations – white metal, for particular tableware – low-standard silver (alloy of copper and silver below 500th standard) were used for the samovar manufacturing. The items, made almost from all listed materials, are presented in my collection. The collection of samovars and related items is wonderfully completed by trays of different shapes and the sizes, the slop basins, brewing teapots and original devices: for example, b bouillote for boiling eggs (КБ 027) or the device for making mulled wines (КБ 034).
The collection would be incomplete without the samples of modern Russian samovar manufacturing, first of all electric samovars from "Shtamp" factory (Tula). The most valuable items of this section: gift sets "Russia", "Blizzard", «300 years from the date of the foundation of S.-Peterburg» – ancient Russian traditions of metal processing are combined with the newest technologies.
Everyone has an opportunity to see the collection which is constantly enriched with new unique items. It is located at the main building of the park-hotel "Grumant",which is located in Shchekinsky region of Tula area near the Yasnaya Polyana.
Welcome!
Yours sincerely,
Mikhail Borschev.
