Scan is the oldest technology of jewelers to create jewelry and objects from thin metal wire. The meaning of the word "skani" comes from the old word "skati" (to twist). It is from twisted, twisted metal threads that products are created using this technique.
From Latin came another name - "filigree". This Latin root is in many foreign languages for the name of such a technique.
Finding out what filigree is, we must not forget about the second term. In foreign sources (and sometimes in Russian too), authentic objects of ancient Russian art are described as filigree.
Forge or draw
Jewelry masterpieces created in the technique of filigree (filigree) existed before our era. The difference with the filigree of Ancient Russia is determined by the method of production of wire from precious metals or alloys. They forged wire or pulled the workpiece through a drawing device - as a result, a thin jewelry thread was obtained. In ancient Egypt and Greece, forging was used to make it.
Old Russian masters of the 10th century scanned silverand gold was obtained by the second method - drawing. What is a filigree made many centuries ago, it is best to see in museums. They contain magnificent samples of princely household items and church utensils, decorated with fabulous ornaments. Clothing (boots, belts, etc.), book frames, dishes, crosses - filigree patterns flourished everywhere. It is worth recalling that Monomakh's hat is also decorated with filigree.
Russian masterpieces
Filigree (along with beading) has become one of the most famous jewelry techniques in Russia. Workshops for the manufacture of jewelry and exquisite household items were at the princely courts and monasteries. For many centuries, Russian jewelers have perfected this technology.
In the 18th-19th centuries, there were several filigree factories. Real works of art from filigree - rings, rings, brooches, pendants, amulets, rattles. Even lorgnettes and lighters were decorated using this technique, which was in perfect harmony with the Art Nouveau style.
In Soviet Russia, the high art of filigree was not lost. Evidence of the international recognition of Russian filigree was the gold medal, which she deserved in France in 1937. What is filigree from Russia is well known abroad: Russian masterpieces have been repeatedly shown at international exhibitions. Scan has always been considered a wonderful souvenir and gift. Openwork accessories, vases, caskets, coasters and dishes give the interior of the house a special style.
Currently, several centers are busy creating filigree and teaching this skill. So, in the Nizhny Novgorod region there is the Pavlovsky technical school of folk art crafts, and in the homeland of Kazakovskaya filigree, there is an enterprise of art products. In the Kostroma region - the Krasnoselsky School of Artistic Metalworking.
Art and imitation filigree
Airy and graceful objects are created by painstaking work of craftsmen. Its beginning is a drawing, a sketch. A complex product thought out to the smallest detail. Everything matters for a unique image: the diameter of the wire, its smoothness or twisting, precise bending. Jewelers use special tools. Solder the parts after processing the pattern laid out on paper with silver solder.
Different types of filigree differ in the presence of a metal base or its absence, the combination of a large number of individual elements. But all these methods fit the basic definition of what filigree is: handmade jewelry with thin wire made of metals or their alloys.
The use of additional techniques and materials serves to make jewelry pieces more decorative. Scan is flattened (with a ribbed surface). It is supplemented with blackening, silvering, polishing, enamel. In the masterpieces of Ancient Russia, filigree, as a rule, was combined with granulation (small metal soldered granules).
Cast openwork products are similar to filigree. But this is a false pretence. The casting method was also used in the old days. The masters knewwhat is real filigree, but they practiced casting, repeating filigree patterns. This made it easier to produce household and church utensils from metal.
Twisting one wire around its axis is called torsion, it is also considered an imitation of filigree used since ancient times.
