Russia has a history of beautiful craft and art work which is known globally. The most versatile and famous of the lot is the Russian silver and enamel work done by the experts for ages and the beautiful tradition is still continued.
There are many silversmiths who specialize specially in silver and enamel while the name of Peter Carl Faberge stands out with the Faberge eggs he crafted for the Tsars before the Russian revolution of 1917. There are many other works of art both related to the Christian religion and the everyday use which were made of silver and inlay work of enamel was also done.
The process of working with this material with enamel inlay is a very old art and there are many methods of working with it. For crafting beautiful objects, vitreous enamel is used which has many excellent features. It is hard, smooth, translucent and assumes bright long lasting colors. Due to its durability and malleability, it was used in pottery and stone objects in the form of beads, inlay work in silver, stone, copper and also extensively used in sculptures and paintings.
However, the objects crafted out of Russian silver and enamel are distinctive due to their workmanship and style of carving.
Usually the style of working of metals with enamel inlay is done in the Champleve style which means 'raised' in French. The surface is carved out such that it forms pits in which the molten enamel is fired and leaves the base material exposed.
Another style of crafting the such objects is Cloisonne which means "cell" in French. Thin wires are placed to form cells or divisions where enamel is applied over the material or silver. The inlay is beautiful and brilliantly colourful. Silver and enamel is renowned for creation of items like candy holder, decorative items, spoons, bowls, bracelets, beakers and Faberge eggs.
Filigree is another method of creating artistic designs on bracelets, Judaica and vases. Filigree is a method of entails using thin wires of silver, which are interwined and meshed to form designs and objects. Russian enamel inlay uses copper plates or 'finift' for a base. There are layers of enamel powder that are placed on the copper base, then compressed and fired. This is another technique that is commonly used and each time it is repeated, precious gems and inlayed stones are used. The Russian silver is marked 925 standard of purity while intricate enamel designs were used to enhance the beauty of silver.
