Who and when invented such a thing as a samovar?
Samovar is a Russian folk device for boiling water and making tea. Initially, the water was heated by an internal firebox, which was a tall tube filled charcoal. Later, other types of samovars appeared - kerosene, electric, etc.
The samovar is the same symbol of Russia as the balalaika and matryoshka.
http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/СамовР...
[edit] History of the samovar
The following is known about the appearance of the first documented samovars in Tula. In 1778, on Shtykova Street, in Zarechye, brothers Ivan and Nazar Lisitsyn made a samovar in a small, initially, first samovar establishment in the city. The founder of this establishment was their father, gunsmith Fedor Lisitsyn, who, in his free time from working at the arms factory, built his own workshop and practiced all kinds of copper work in it.
Already in 1803, four Tula tradesmen, seven gunsmiths, two coachmen, and 13 peasants were working for them. There are 26 people in total. This is already a factory, and its capital is 3,000 rubles, its income is up to 1,500 rubles. A lot of money. The factory passed to Nazar's son Nikita Lisitsyn in 1823.
The Lisitsyn samovars were famous for their variety of shapes and finishes: barrels, vases with chasing and engraving, egg-shaped samovars, with dolphin-shaped taps, and loop-shaped handles. How much joy they brought to people! But a century has passed - and the graves of the manufacturers are overgrown with grass, the names of their apprentices are forgotten. The first samovars that glorified Tula have become noisy and no longer sing their evening songs. They are quietly sad far from their homeland, in the museums of Bukhara, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kaluga. However, the Tula Samovar Museum can boast of the oldest Lisitsyn samovar.
Meanwhile, samovar production turned out to be very profitable. Handicraftsmen quickly turned into manufacturers, workshops into factories.
In 1785, the samovar establishment of A. M. Morozov was opened, in 1787 - of F. M. Popov, in 1796 - of Mikhail Medvedev.
In 1808, eight samovar factories operated in Tula. In 1812, the factory of Vasily Lomov opened, in 1813 - Andrei Kurashev, in 1815 - Egor Chernikov, in 1820 - Stepan Kiselev.
Vasily Lomov, together with his brother Ivan, produced samovars High Quality, 1000 - 1200 pieces per year, and gained high popularity. Samovars were then sold by weight and cost: brass - 64 rubles per pound, red copper - 90 rubles per pound.
In 1826, the factory of merchants Lomovs produced 2372 samovars per year, Nikita Lisitsyn - 320 pieces, Chernikov brothers - 600 pieces, Kurashev - 200 pieces, tradesman Malikov - 105 pieces, gunsmiths Minaev - 128 pieces and Chiginsky - 318 pieces.
In 1850, in Tula alone there were 28 samovar factories, which produced about 120 thousand samovars per year and many other copper products. Thus, the factory of Ya. V. Lyalin produced more than 10 thousand samovars per year, the factories of I. V. Lomov, Rudakov, and the Batashev brothers - seven thousand pieces each.
At the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries, new types of samovars appeared - the kerosene samovar, the Parichko samovar and copper samovars from the Chernikov factory with a pipe on the side. In the latter, such a device increased air movement and contributed to faster boiling water.
Kerosene samovars with a fuel tank were produced (along with flame ones) by the factory of the Prussian citizen Reinhold Theile, founded in 1870, and they were made only in Tula. This samovar found great demand where kerosene was cheap, especially in the Caucasus. Kerosene samovars were also sold abroad.
In 1908, the steam factory of the Shakhdat and Co. brothers produced a samovar with a removable jug - the Parichko samovar. It was invented by engineer A. Yu. Parichko, who sold his patent to Shakhdat and Co. These samovars were fire-safe; they could not break down or deteriorate, like ordinary samovars, if there was no water in them during the fire. Thanks to the upper blower device and the possibility of
Drinking tea while drinking a samovar has long been considered one of the most striking and indicative features of Russian traditional life. The samovar was not an ordinary accessory household, but a kind of personification of prosperity, family comfort, well-being. It was included in a girl's dowry, passed down by inheritance, and given as a gift. Thoroughly polished, it was displayed in the most visible and honorable place in the room.
Many believe that the samovar is a truly Russian invention. However, devices similar to the samovar were known in ancient times, in ancient times.
For example, the ancient Romans, wanting to drink boiling water, took a vessel, filled it with water and threw a larger hot stone into it, causing the water to boil.
Over time, similar devices began to appear in Europe, but with a more advanced design. And in China there was even a device that resembled a samovar in that it had a pipe and a blower.
Russian tea machine, as it was called in Western Europe first appeared in Russia during the reign of Peter I. At that time, the tsar often visited Holland, from where he brought many ideas and interesting objects, among which was a samovar. It was called, of course, differently, with a Dutch flavor, but that name has not reached our times and the device is known as a samovar.
The samovar owes its appearance to tea. Tea was brought to Russia in the 17th century from Asia and was used as a medicine among the nobility at that time.
Tea was imported to Moscow, and later to Odessa, Poltava, Kharkov, Rostov and Astrakhan. The tea trade was one of the extensive and profitable commercial enterprises. In the 19th century, tea became the Russian national drink.
Tea was a competitor to sbiten, the favorite drink Ancient Rus'. This hot drink prepared with honey and medicinal herbs in sbitennik. The sbitennik looks like a teapot, inside of which there was a pipe for loading coal. There was a brisk trade in sbiten at fairs.
In the 18th century, samovar-kitchens appeared in the Urals and Tula, which were a brotherhood divided into three parts: food was cooked in two, tea in the third. The sbitennik and the samovar-kitchen were the predecessors of the samovar.
Where and when did the first samovar appear? Who invented it? Unknown. It is only known that when going to the Urals in 1701, the Tula blacksmith-industrialist I. Demidov took with him skilled workers and coppersmiths. It is possible that samovars were already being made in Tula at that time.
During the time of Peter the Great, an unprecedented development of industry began in the Urals, a huge number of copper smelters and metallurgical plants were built. It was at one of these factories that they began producing household copper utensils for the population, where they began producing kettles with handles already in the 30s of the 18th century. A little later, factories began to produce cauldrons and distillery stills with pipes.
The first mention of a samovar in historical documents dates back to 1746, but it is impossible to name the exact date and place where the first samovar appeared. However, it is known for certain that by the end of the 18th century, the principles of operation and the structure of the samovar had already been completely formed, and still remain unchanged.
Throughout the history of the development of the samovar, it appearance and decoration changed in accordance with fluctuations of taste. At first they bore the imprint of the Rococo style, then they gravitated towards the Empire style, and at the end of their existence they did not escape the influence of Art Nouveau. But the “internal content” remained traditional. True, at the end of the 19th century a kerosene samovar appeared, and the factory of the Chernikov brothers began producing samovars with a side pipe, which increased air movement and accelerated the boiling process.
The first samovar factory in Russia was opened in 1766 in Moscow by A. Shmakov. But the real revolution in samovar art was made by the Tula people. From the second half of the 19th century, Tula became the “samovar capital”. At that time there were about 80 factories there, producing more than 150 styles of “tea machines”.
Externally, the first samovars were still somewhat different from modern ones. At that time they were intended mainly for use in hiking conditions, as a result of which they were small in size and had removable legs. The most common volume of samovars was 3-8 liters, although larger ones were also produced for large quantity people, 12-15 liters. Due to the fact that most of Russia has a rather cool climate, people drank several cups of tea a day. In addition, the heat of the samovar could warm up the room quite well. All this led to the fact that the samovar became very popular among the people, even despite its far from low cost. By the way, the cost of a samovar was determined depending on its weight, that is, the heavier the samovar was, the more expensive it was.
Making a samovar is a rather labor-intensive process. Workers of various specialties were involved in its production: pointers who bent copper sheets and set the shape, tinkers, turners, mechanics, assemblers and cleaners. Craftsmen in the villages made individual parts of the samovar, brought them to the factory, where they were assembled finished goods. Entire villages were engaged in the production of samovar parts all year round with the exception of summer, when work was done in the fields.
At first, samovars were made of red (pure) and green copper, cupronickel, and later they began to use cheaper alloys such as brass.
Over time, there were so many different factories producing samovars that in order to identify the manufacturer, they began to put a mark on the lids of samovars corresponding to each factory. It was something like a trademark by which one could recognize the manufacturer.
Tula samovars penetrated into all corners of Russia and became decorations at fairs. Every year from May 25 to June 10, samovars were transported from Tula along the Oka River (to the Oka, samovars were carried on horses) to the Nizhny Novgorod Fair. The river route had a number of advantages: it was cheaper, and samovars were better preserved with this method of transportation.
The first places at the fairs were taken by samovars from Batashev, Lyalin, Belousov, Gudkov, Rudakov, Uvarov, and Lomov. Large manufacturers, for example Lomovs, Somovs, had their own stores in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Tula and other cities.
During transportation, samovars were packed in boxes that could hold a dozen products of different sizes and styles, and were sold by weight. A dozen samovars weighed more than 4 pounds and cost 90 rubles.
It was not easy to master the craft of a samovar.
This is what N. G. Abrosimov, an old-time samovar maker in the village of Maslovo, recalls: “I started working as an apprentice at the age of 11. I studied this craft for three and a half years. For the wall (body), brass was cut to a certain size, then it was rolled into a cylinder, and this shape was created in twelve steps. The brass was cut into teeth on one side and then secured along the connecting seam with hammer blows, after which it was carried to the forge. Then the craftsman (fixer) repeated the operations of sealing the seam using hammers and files and each time secured it by annealing in the forge. Boy apprentices ran to the forge from master to master and back and gradually looked closely at how the master worked.
A lot of sweat was shed and sleepless nights were spent before the wall was made according to the manufacturer’s order. If you bring it to Tula to the manufacturer, sometimes the defect will be discovered. A lot of labor has been expended, but there is nothing to gain. The work was hard, but I loved it, it was nice when you made a miracle wall from a sheet of brass.”
The process of making the “Tula miracle” is complex and varied, which involved 12 steps. There was a strict division of labor in production. There were almost no cases when the master made the entire samovar. There were seven main specialties in samovar making:
The pointer - he bent the copper sheet, soldered it and made the appropriate shape. In a week he could make 6-8 pieces of blanks (depending on the shape) and received an average of 60 kopecks per piece.
Tinker - tinned the inside of the samovar with tin. I made 60-100 pieces a day and received 3 kopecks per piece.
Turner - sharpened the samovar on a machine and polished it (at the same time, the worker who turned the machine (turner) received 3 rubles a week). A turner could turn 8-12 pieces a day and received 18-25 kopecks per piece.
A mechanic - he made handles, taps, etc. (handles - for 3-6 samovars a day) and received 20 kopecks for each pair.
The assembler assembled the samovar from all the individual parts, soldered the taps, etc. He made up to two dozen samovars a week and received 23-25 kopecks from one.
Cleaner - cleaned the samovar (up to 10 pieces per day), received 7-10 kopecks per piece.
Wood turner - he made wooden cones for lids and handles (up to 400-600 pieces per day) and received 10 kopecks per hundred.
The process of making a samovar is long before it appears in the form in which we are accustomed to seeing it.
Assembly and finishing were underway at the factories. Manufacturing of parts - at home. It is known that entire villages made one particular part. Finished products were delivered once a week, sometimes every two weeks. They were transporting finished products for delivery on horseback, well packed.
Samovars entered every home, characteristic feature Russian life. The poet Boris Sadovskoy in the preface to the collection “Samovar” wrote: “The samovar in our lives, unconsciously for ourselves, takes up a huge place. As a purely Russian phenomenon, it is beyond the understanding of foreigners. In the hum and whisper of a samovar, a Russian person imagines familiar voices from childhood: the sighs of the spring wind, the mother’s dear songs, the cheerful inviting whistle of a village blizzard. These voices in the city European cafe Can not hear".
On the eve of the Patriotic War of 1812, the largest enterprise producing samovars was the plant of Peter Silin, located in the Moscow province. He produced about 3,000 of them per year, but by the 1820s, Tula began to play an increasingly important role in samovar production.
The samovar is a part of the life and destiny of our people, reflected in its proverbs and sayings, in the works of the classics of our literature - Pushkin and Gogol, Blok and Gorky.
The samovar is poetry. This is good Russian hospitality. This is a circle of friends and family, warm and cordial peace.
A veranda window entwined with hops, a summer night with its sounds and smells, the beauty of which makes your heart skip a beat, a circle of light from a lamp with a cozy fabric lampshade and, of course... a grumbling, sparkling copper, steaming Tula samovar on the table.
Tula samovar... In our language this phrase has long become stable. A.P. Chekhov compares this absurd act, from his point of view, to a trip “to Tula with his own samovar.”
Already at that time there were proverbs about the samovar (“The samovar is boiling - it doesn’t tell you to leave”, “Where there is tea, there is paradise under the spruce tree”, songs, poems.
The newspaper “Tula Provincial Gazette” for 1872 (No. 70) wrote about the samovar as follows: “The samovar is a Friend of the family hearth, the medicine of a frozen traveler...”
The history of the Russian samovar is not too long - about two and a half centuries. But today the samovar is an integral part of Russian tea drinking. Samples of Russian samovars can be found on the antique market. The price of such samovars depends, of course, on the fame of the company or craftsman, on the safety of the sample, and on the material of the product. Prices for collectible samovars start at $500. The most expensive samovars are samovars from K. Faberge, prices for which can reach up to $25,000.
A samovar can create a surprisingly warm and cozy atmosphere in the house, add a unique flavor to family and friendly gatherings, and remind you of long-forgotten, but so pleasant Russian traditions.
It was getting dark. On the table, shining,
The evening samovar hissed,
Chinese teapot heating,
Light steam swirled beneath him.
Spilled by Olga's hand.
Through the cups in a dark stream
Already fragrant tea ran...
The nightly prelude to a cozy summer evening, people run home to dispel fatigue and enjoy the midnight silence after a hectic day. The evening garden brings a slight coolness, imperceptibly and insinuatingly filling the house with the aromas of greenery. And to the beat of hearts, warmed by the heat of the Tula samovar, poetry of the soul, national Russian poetry, is born...
This is a piece of each of us, glorified by literary classics. The shiny copper samovar lives on to this day in the works of Pushkin, Blok, Gorky and Gogol. From time immemorial, the samovar is like an old one good friend, attracts with its warmth and hospitality. Where does the history of the samovar begin?
Definitely The samovar is a true Russian creation, occupying a special position in. It’s amazing how widespread it is, and how mysterious it is. Indeed, not everyone knows when and where the first water-heating vessel for tea began to bubble up. But the history of the samovar is, in fact, unique and almost unexplored.
As for the origin of the word “samovar,” even here the opinions of historians differ. Different nations In Rus', the device was called differently: in Yaroslavl it was “samogar”, in Kursk it was “samokipets”, in Vyatka it was called “samogrey”. The general idea of the purpose of the copper friend can be traced, “he cooks it himself.” Other researchers find evidence of Tatar origin from the word “snabar” (teapot). But this version has fewer adherents.
Versions of the origin of the samovar
Where to look for answers to the question about the origin of the samovar and its creator? Unfortunately, it is not possible to find exact answers. Historians believe that the Russian samovar, synonymous with our hospitality and an indispensable attribute of Russian tea drinking, originates from ancient civilizations. But these, again, are versions.
1. Antique samovar of Ancient Rome
According to one version, the roots of the samovar go much deeper than it seems. They grow from the place where all roads on Earth lead - Ancient Rome. Archaeologists have discovered devices that work on the principle of a Russian samovar. Incredibly, the Romans drank drinks from samovars back in ancient times. Autepsa was the name of the antique samovar. A rather simple, but nevertheless original and extremely useful invention is structured as follows: outwardly, the autepsa was something similar to a tall jug, inside of which there were two containers, for coal and for liquid. Hot coal was fed through a hole on the side, and the liquid was poured using a ladle. In the same device it was possible to cool drinks on hot days; for this, ice was used instead of coal.
2. Chinese samovar 火锅 “Ho-Go”
A similar device exists in China. A deep bowl on a pallet, equipped with a blower and a pipe - this is what the famous Chinese prototype of the samovar, called “Ho-Go,” represents. “Ho-Go” is made from metal and porcelain. They usually serve soup or boiling broth. Perhaps the origin of the samovar, like the samovar, is due to China, and the prototype of the Russian samovar is the Chinese “Ho-Go”.
Appearance in Rus' - from the history of the samovar
There is a legend according to which the samovar appeared in Russia thanks to Peter I - he brought it from Holland as an outlandish and innovative device.
There is another version, according to which the birthplace of the samovar is not even Tula, but the Urals, and its creator is the Tula blacksmith Demidov. Having set off on a trip to the Urals back in 1701, the industrialist Demidov, together with skilled coppersmiths, laid the foundation for the samovar dynasty.
The history of the samovar is florid and ambiguous. According to documented data, the following is known about the appearance of the first samovar: in 1778, in the city of Tula, on Shtykova Street, two Lisitsyna brothers began the first production of samovars. At first, it was a small establishment for the production of samovars. It is thanks to him that Tula is often considered the birthplace of the Russian samovar.
What then to do with other historical documents resting on the shelves of the State Archives of the Sverdlovsk Region? The fact is that one of them, certified by the customs service of Yekaterinburg on February 7, 1740, confirms the version about the earlier appearance of the samovar. According to the inventory of Demidov’s confiscated property, it included, in addition to six tubs of honey and bags of nuts, a copper samovar. And literally: “The samovar is copper, tinned, weighing 16 pounds, made by the factory.” The officially recorded appearance of the samovar in Tula and its distribution in the Urals differ by almost forty years. To this day, the question from the history of the samovar remains open - Tula or the Urals became the birthplace of the Russian samovar?
It turns out that in 1730-1740 samovars were used in the Urals, and only later - in Tula, Moscow and St. Petersburg. In the 19th century, samovar making spread beyond large cities and was observed in the Vyatka, Vladimir and Yaroslavl provinces. By 1850, there were 28 samovar workshops throughout Russia. About 120 thousand copper samovars were produced per year. Samovars were made at the discretion and request of the customer: from large to small, souvenirs, decorated, in the form of vases, jars, glasses, barrels, balls, even barrels. The imagination of the artisans and the customer’s wallet knew no limits. The appearance of the samovar has transformed in step with the times, fashion and way of life of people. In the next issues of our blog we will definitely publish the history of the samovar in pictures.
Tea drinking and samovar are inseparable concepts!
Going through the pages history of the samovar, take a closer look at yourself. What does a samovar mean to us? How did he fall in love and become synonymous with Russian hospitality and generosity?
What would a tea party be without a samovar! Pot-bellied and smoking, important and shiny, the samovar became the center festive feast and an indispensable attribute. The unhurried and hospitable samovar created a friendly atmosphere and encouraged conversation. This good friend was outside of class; he was held in high esteem by both the poor man and the king. To the puff of the samovar, they composed poems, sang songs, danced in circles and decided matters of national importance. The samovar is glorified in Russian folk songs, there are proverbs about it: “With a brawler samovar, tea is more important, conversation is more fun,” “Where there is tea, there is paradise under the spruce tree.” The samovar has become an indispensable assistant tea maker, greatly facilitating the process of brewing tea. There was no longer any need to fire up the stove to boil water; with a samovar this took a few minutes and became not a daily task, but a tea-drinking tradition. The water takes a long time to cool down, the tea in the samovar brews better, and it turns out much tastier!
Vladimir Stozharov at the samovar.
The samovar completely unconsciously became part of the cultural heritage of the Russian people. Moreover, not a single foreigner will be able to understand why such a simple and unpretentious household item, the samovar, is treated so carefully and with all the soul in our country. A measured hum, bagels on the table, cups and saucers and the most delicious tea from a samovar - all this is so close to the heart, it gives so much warmth and comfort to the hearth. For a Russian person, a samovar brings back memories of childhood, the dear and caring hands of a mother, the chants of the wind, a snowstorm outside the window, friendly celebrations, and family feasts. Not a single city European cafe can repeat all this, because this is a memory that lives in the hearts.
Drinking tea while drinking a samovar has long been considered one of the most striking and indicative features of Russian traditional life. The samovar was not an ordinary household item, but a kind of personification of wealth, family comfort, and well-being. It was included in a girl's dowry, passed down by inheritance, and given as a gift. Thoroughly polished, it was displayed in the most visible and honorable place in the room.
It was getting dark. On the table, shining, the evening samovar hissed, the Chinese teapot was heating up, light steam swirled beneath it. Spilled by Olga's hand. Already fragrant tea was running through the cups in a dark stream... "Eugene Onegin", Pushkin.
Samovar is a Russian tea machine - that’s what it was called in Western Europe. The word "samovar" has passed from us to almost all languages of the world. The origin of this word is now not clear to everyone, since the combination “cooks it himself” in conjunction with the word “water” seems incorrect. But just a hundred years ago the word “cook” was used not only in relation to food (boil soup, fish), but also in relation to water, along with the word “boil”. Moreover, in samovars they not only boiled water, but also cooked food and whippings. So the samovar can be considered the great-grandfather of today's multicookers
There is a legend according to which Peter I brought the samovar to Russia from Holland, but in reality samovars appeared half a century after the death of Tsar Peter. Initially in Russia, the samovar began to be made in the Urals. 275 years ago, the first samovar appeared at the Irginsky plant in the Urals. The history of its creation is quite interesting and instructive. Good example anti-crisis management during the period of another “strengthening of the role of the state in the country’s economy.”
In China, from where tea was brought to Russia, there is a related device, which also has a pipe and a blower. But there is no real samovar anywhere else, if only because in other countries they immediately brew tea with boiling water, much like coffee.
Chinese hotpot, "cousin" of the samovar
The samovar owes its appearance to tea. Tea was brought to Russia in the 17th century from Asia and was used as a medicine among the nobility at that time.
Tea was imported to Moscow, and later to Odessa, Poltava, Kharkov, Rostov and Astrakhan. The tea trade was one of the extensive and profitable commercial enterprises. In the 19th century, tea became the Russian national drink.
Tea was a competitor to sbiten, the favorite drink of Ancient Rus'. This hot drink was prepared with honey and medicinal herbs in sbitennik. The sbitennik looks like a teapot, inside of which there was a pipe for loading coal. There was a brisk trade in sbiten at fairs.
In the 18th century, kitchen samovars appeared in the Urals and Tula, which were a silo divided into three parts: food was cooked in two, and tea in the third.
The sbitennik and the samovar-kitchen were the predecessors of the samovar. Externally, the whipped pot resembles a teapot with a large curved spout, but inside it has a soldered jug into which coals were placed (later we will see such a jug arrangement in a samovar), and at the bottom of the whipped pot there is a blower. Such sbitenniks were made in Tula. They were used to prepare hot, aromatic folk drink(sbitnya) from water, honey, spices and herbs.
Samovar kitchen, first half of the 18th century. The sbitennik and the samovar-kitchen were the predecessors of the samovar.
URAL SAMOVAR. WAS HE NOT THE FIRST IN RUSSIA?
N. KOREPANOV, researcher at the Institute of History and Archeology of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Ekaterinburg)
In 1996, Tula celebrated the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the domestic samovar. According to most researchers, two and a half centuries ago in the city of gunsmiths began industrial production this unique product. The initial date - 1746 - was taken from the mention of a samovar found in the inventory of the property of the Onega Monastery. However, not everything here is clear and indisputable. In addition to Tula, three Ural factories are also called the birthplace of the samovar - Suksunsky, which belonged to the Demidovs, Troitsky, which was owned by the Turchaninovs, and Irginsky, its owners were certain Osokins. When talking about the history of technology and its achievements, we often mention “lefties” - nameless Russian craftsmen. Although there is nothing nameless in history, there are only forgotten names. Let's try to find out who was the “author” of the first samovar?
Let us turn to historical documents stored in the State Archive of the Sverdlovsk Region. One of them is very curious and belongs to the customs service. It says that on February 7, 1740, some seized goods were delivered to the Yekaterinburg customs from the Chusovaya River, from the Kurinskaya pier of Akinfiy Demidov, namely: six tubs of honey, six bags of nuts and a copper samovar with a device. The victims in this case were the merchants of the Irginsky plant. Customs officials weighed out the honey and nuts and described the product: “The samovar is copper, tinned, weighing 16 pounds, made in the factory.” As we can see, the customs officers did not show any surprise at what they saw. Nevertheless, it should be noted that the word “samovar” had not previously been found in the documents of the mining plant of the Urals. Therefore, it is necessary to explain where the merchants were coming from and where they were transporting the samovar, which, according to customs information, contained 16 pounds of copper and tin.
Since 1727, two companies have been fighting for a place for a plant on the Irgina River, a tributary of the Sylva, near the ore mountain Krasny Yar: three Moscow merchants with a Kaluga resident against the townspeople from the city of Balakhna - Peter and Gavrila Osokin, cousins. The treasury supported the Osokins... The Irginsky plant produced the first copper in December 1728. Although copper had a high iron content, it was still suitable for coinage.
No one really knew where the Osokins recruited people to their plant from, only occasionally in Yekaterinburg they received complaints from the Kungur governor: “Many numbers of newcomers come to the Suksunsky and Irginsky factories incessantly, but what kind of natives they are, they don’t announce that, and the clerks don’t say that They don’t give it. And the newcomers, coming from these factories, start fights for the peasants of the Kungur district... But it’s impossible to catch them, because they walk around in large numbers and, starting a fight, run away to the factories.” Factory clerks also complained, but to each other. Endless litigation began over mines and forests: Irgina and neighboring Suksun turned into rivals.
The Suksun plant of Akinfiy Demidov had its own craftsmen. On Irgina, the newly minted breeders had nowhere to find masters. Two masters from Yekaterinburg taught locals how to smelt copper in Saxon furnaces with water-powered bellows. Kazan sent copper boiler master Stepan Loginov, and Perm sent copper cookware master Alexey Strezhnin. At that time, the making of copper utensils was second in profitability only to coinage. As a matter of fact, factory-made copper utensils were born here from money supplies. When in Yekaterinburg they stopped minting square money - the so-called plat (how much it costs by weight - this is the denomination), and the minting of new coins was not yet expected, the Chief Commander of the Urals Mining Plant, General Gennin, decided to at least somehow reimburse the factory expenses. This is how the Yekaterinburg Copperware Factory appeared, and behind it there were similar ones in other places.
But let's return to the specialists sent. Kotelnik Loginov trained two craftsmen for the Irginsky plant, crockery maker Strezhnin recruited nine students and, after studying for a year, went home without permission: he could not come to terms with the need for continuous production. For him, who grew up from a self-taught sheet metal worker, each product had to be unique, inimitable. And here she was walking mass production. And nine of his teenage students were assigned to complete their studies with the young Semyon Zylev and Ivan Smirnov trained by Loginov. These eleven people made up the staff of the boiler factory.
And here's what's interesting. Besides Zylev, the other ten people spoke “Nizhny Novgorod” - they were fellow countrymen from the Nizhny Novgorod province. Master Smirnov is a schismatic from the village of Malinovka, Nizhny Novgorod bishop's village; seven of the nine students were born into schismatic families in the villages of Koposov and Kozina (patrimony of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery). Their parents fled to the Urals in 1728-1730 along with thousands of other schismatics. And it was his clerk, a fugitive peasant from the same Koposov, Rodion Fedorovich Nabatov, who paved the way for them all to the Irginsky plant. He hid as much as he could what in the mid-1730s, with the beginning of factory censuses, stunned the mining authorities. Then it was discovered that the Irginsky plant consists entirely of fugitive schismatics, mostly from the Nizhny Novgorod province! Those same ones from the Kerzhenskaya volost, nicknamed “Kerzhanians” in the 18th century, and “Kerzhaks” in the 19th century.
Meanwhile, by 1734, Irgina was already producing foundry utensils (pots, cauldrons and copper pots) and turned utensils (mugs, kungans, tubs, quarters and teapots), and also made distillery utensils (cauldrons with pipes). The dishes, of course, ended up in the Osokins’ master’s house, but the main flow of them went to Balakhna, to the Irbitskaya and Makaryevskaya fairs, for sale in Kungur, to the state-owned Yagoshikha plant (where present-day Perm is), and to Yaik. The dishes were also sold at the factory. In four years, they produced this product with a total weight of 536 pounds, and a third of it - 180 pounds - was sold at the plant. The dishes were also allowed for free sale, and in case of chronic lack of money, they were also allowed to pay workers.
On September 25, 1734, the Osokins split: Pyotr Ignatievich received the Irginsky plant, Gavrila Poluektovich received the Yugovsky plant, built a year ago. But a month later, the winds of change blew: in October the Chief Commander of the Urals Mining Plant was replaced in Yekaterinburg. Instead of the Dutchman Willim Ivanovich Gennin, Vasily Nikitich Tatishchev came.
Soon, state-owned charge masters scattered around private factories, stood on par with clerks and began to explain how to live and work. On Irgin, an order was read to the clerk Nabatov: to stop trading in utensils, and to deliver copper ingots to Yekaterinburg at a fixed price. The clerk responded by explaining that the explored ores “have been cut short, and those that have been dug up will only last until the summer.” If the treasury cannot do without copper, then let it borrow up to 25 thousand poods of ore. And indeed, in the summer of 1735, Irgin received about 20 thousand pounds of borrowed ore from the Yagoshikha plant. And that same summer the Bashkirs rebelled. And in the fall, persecution began against schismatics who had grown bolder while living under the leadership of the tolerant Dutchman Willim Gennin.
In September, Rodion Nabatov served the plant for the last time. He signed a petition with three of Demidov’s clerks “for all Old Believers,” asking to send two or three priests “who want to keep the faith according to old printed books.” He also honestly warned that the owner Osokin would not be able to pay for the borrowed copper ore unless he spent all the smelted metal on dishes, preferably on a distillery.
The Bashkir uprising of 1735-1740 gave birth to the then famous “freemen” - voluntary detachments of factory residents and assigned peasants to pacify the Bashkirs. So, on March 14, 1736, the artisans of the Irginsky plant stopped work in an organized manner, divided into groups and marched to Kungur - to enlist in the combat hundreds for the “Bashkir war”. At first they signed up without any order, until the authorities set a limit: a fifth of those able to work from a factory or village. And only two factories - Irginsky and Yugovskoy - experienced the “freedom” in full. Almost all of their workers and more than half of the assigned peasants had plenty of fun with camp life.
The first, Irginskaya “freemen” returned to their homes by July, although about forty people remained on the campaign. These were schismatics who saved themselves as best they could from harsh pressure, from peaceful and non-peaceful exhortations to move into the bosom of the official church. And here the new clerk, Ivan Ivanovich Shvetsov, could not do anything, because enrollment in the “freedom”, in other words, escape, was allowed.
So which of the volunteers of that distant, forgotten war with the Bashkirs, who knew a variety of copper vessels on Irgin, came up with the idea of a portable kitchen? About a camp boiler that would quickly heat up without a stove or fire, could easily be hidden in a travel bag and could create home comfort in the most difficult conditions? In the end, every invention comes into being when there is a need for it.
Meanwhile, factory life continued. The borrowed ore melted disgustingly. From 20 thousand poods they received only 180 poods of pure copper. This is not bankruptcy yet, but... Clerk Shvetsov bombarded the Yekaterinburg bosses with petitions: “I ask that my masters be ordered to convert smelted copper from borrowed government ore into dishes and sell it to free hunters.” In July 1738, Yekaterinburg made a decision. In September, it became known on Irgin: make dishes and sell them wherever you want. But - for the last time!
And so, having received freedom of action, the breeder Pyotr Osokin and the clerk Ivan Shvetsov had to think hard. Traditional, ordinary copper utensils will no longer surprise anyone; many people use them. But what might really interest you is distillery equipment. Rodion Nabatov also warned: the owner Osokin will pay off the debt only by selling the expensive equipment needed there - cubes, cauldrons and pipes - to the Kungur circle yard, to private and state-owned distilleries. Pipes and cauldrons. Pipes and... So this is a samovar?
So, in September 1738, Irgina had 180 pounds of copper that was in danger of losing money and special permission to make dishes for the last time in the foreseeable future. A pound of pure copper at a fixed price for the treasury cost 6 kopecks, but it was allowed to make a certain product from the same copper “at your own discretion” and sell it at a higher price in order to repay the debt in money.
And now let us again remember the 16-pound product seized a year and a half later by Yekaterinburg customs officers. It was valued by merchants during interrogation at 4 rubles 80 kopecks. At that time, for a cow, depending on the season and age, they paid from two and a half to four rubles. An average house cost ten rubles, a decent house cost twenty.
In September 1738, there were seven remaining boilermakers on Irgin, the same ones who learned the craft from Alexei Strezhnin and Stepan Loginov. Their names were: Ivan Smirnov, Pyotr Chesnokov, Sergei Drobinin, Fedos Zakoryukin, Larion Kuznetsov, Matvey Alekseev, Nikita Fedorov. Now, from the customs documents of the 18th century, with which this story began, we know that the hands of these Irginsky craftsmen worked between September 1738 and February 1740 “their product,” as they called it.
It is generally accepted that the samovar appeared thanks to the spread of tea drinking in Russia. But the schismatics did not drink tea; they drank sbiten, a honey-based drink. (It is no coincidence that in February 1740, tubs of honey were delivered to Yekaterinburg along with the samovar.) And any connoisseur will tell you how much the samovar has in common with the sbitennik.
Pear-shaped samovar. 1940s.
Samovar with vase. Renaissance. Nickel plated brass. Beginning of the 20th century.
Samovar Florentine vase. Copper. Coinage. 1870
Samovar Egyptian vase. Nickel plated brass. 1910s.
True, at the end of the 19th century a kerosene samovar appeared, and the factory of the Chernikov brothers began producing samovars with a side pipe, which increased air movement and accelerated the boiling process.
On the eve of the Patriotic War of 1812, the largest enterprise producing samovars was the plant of Peter Silin, located in the Moscow province. He produced about 3,000 of them per year, but by the 1820s, Tula, which was called the samovar capital, began to play an increasingly important role in samovar production. In 1850, in Tula alone there were 28 samovar factories that produced about 120 thousand samovars per year. year and many other copper products.
The following styles were typical for the beginning of the 19th century: ovoid with loop-shaped handles, “empire”, “crater”, reminiscent ancient greek vessel, a vase with concave ovals looks especially solemn due to the legs in the form of lion paws. Everything at that time was subject to the dominant style, characteristic of the decorative and applied arts at the beginning of the 19th century. In addition to ordinary samovars, road samovars were made. The removable legs were fixed into special grooves. Shape - rectangle, cube, polyhedron. Such samovars are convenient for transportation, on a hike, for picnics.
The 19th century is the “golden age” of samovar making in Russia. Each factory tried to come up with its own samovar, unlike the others. Hence such a variety of samovar shapes: conical, smooth, faceted, spherical, in the “neo-Greek” style, which reproduced the ancient forms of amphorae. The sizes and capacities of samovars were extremely varied: from a glass to twenty liters. At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, samovars had a variety of everyday names, indicating the shape of the product: “jar”, “glass”, “vase”, “acorn”, “dula”, “turnip”, “ Easter Egg", "flame", etc.
The samovar is egg-shaped. Brass. Beginning of the 19th century
Travel samovar. Copper. Beginning of the 19th century.
Empire style samovar. Brass. Beginning of the 19th century.
Pantry samovar. Nickel plated brass. 1923
Samovar Tula - Hero City. Nickel plated brass. 1978
Samovar Teremok Brass. Beginning of the 20th century.
At the same time, there was a search for universal use of samovars: coffee pot samovars, kitchen samovars, home samovars, travel samovars, etc. were created.
However, most of them did not become widespread, and in the 20th century they began to use only samovars for boiling water and serving tea table. Three typical shapes of samovars turned out to be viable: cylindrical, conical (like a vase) and spherical flattened (like a turnip). At the same time, the designs of taps, handles, legs, and burners became varied. At this time, a bouillette (from the French bonillir - to boil) - a small vessel on a stand with an alcohol lamp - became a frequent companion of the samovar. The bouillotte was usually placed on the table, filled hot water. Using an alcohol lamp, the water was maintained at a boil until the samovar, filled with cold water, boiled again. Samovar production in Russia reached its greatest development in 1912-1913, when 660 thousand of them were produced annually in Tula alone. The First World War suspended the production of samovars, which resumed only after the end of the civil war.
It was not easy to master the craft of a samovar.
This is what N. G. Abrosimov, an old-time samovar maker in the village of Maslovo, recalls: “He began working as an apprentice at the age of 11. He studied this craft for three and a half years. For the wall (body), brass was cut to a certain size, then it was rolled into a cylinder, and this shape was created in twelve steps. The brass was cut on one side with teeth and then secured along the connecting seam with hammer blows, after which they were carried to the forge. Then the master (machine operator) repeated the operations of sealing the seam using hammers and files and each time secured by annealing in the forge. They ran to the forge from master to master and back, the boys-apprentices gradually looked closely at how the master worked.
A lot of sweat was shed and sleepless nights were spent before the wall was made according to the manufacturer’s order. If you bring it to Tula to the manufacturer, sometimes the defect will be discovered. A lot of labor has been expended, but there is nothing to gain. The work was hard, but I loved it, it was nice when you made a miracle wall out of a sheet of brass.”
The process of making the “Tula miracle”, which involved 12 steps, is complex and varied. There was a strict division of labor in production. There were almost no cases when the master made the entire samovar. There were seven main specialties in samovar making:
The pointer - bent the copper sheet, soldered it and made the appropriate shape. In a week he could make 6-8 pieces of blanks (depending on the shape) and received an average of 60 kopecks per piece.
Tinker - tinned the inside of the samovar with tin. I made 60-100 pieces a day and received 3 kopecks per piece.
Turner - sharpened the samovar on a machine and polished it (at the same time, the worker who turned the machine (turner) received 3 rubles a week). A turner could turn 8-12 pieces a day and received 18-25 kopecks per piece.
A mechanic - he made handles, taps, etc. (handles - for 3-6 samovars a day) and received 20 kopecks for each pair.
The assembler assembled the samovar from all the individual parts, soldered the taps, etc. He made up to two dozen samovars a week and received 23-25 kopecks from one.
Cleaner - cleaned the samovar (up to 10 pieces per day), received 7-10 kopecks per piece.
Wood turner - made wooden cones for lids and handles (up to 400-600 pieces per day) and received 10 kopecks per hundred.
The process of making a samovar is long before it appears in the form in which we are accustomed to seeing it.
Assembly and finishing were underway at the factories. Manufacturing of parts - at home. It is known that entire villages made one particular part. Finished products were delivered once a week, sometimes every two weeks. They carried finished products for delivery on horseback, well packaged.
Samovars entered every home and became a characteristic feature of Russian life. The poet Boris Sadovskoy in the preface to the collection “Samovar” wrote: “The samovar in our lives, unconsciously for ourselves, occupies a huge place. As a purely Russian phenomenon, it is beyond the understanding of foreigners. Russian people in the hum and whisper of the samovar have heard familiar voices since childhood: sighs spring wind, mother's dear songs, the cheerful inviting whistle of a village blizzard. These voices are not heard in a city European cafe."
On the eve of the Patriotic War of 1812, the largest enterprise producing samovars was the plant of Peter Silin, located in the Moscow province. He produced about 3,000 of them per year, but by the 1820s, Tula began to play an increasingly important role in samovar production.
The samovar is a part of the life and destiny of our people, reflected in its proverbs and sayings, in the works of the classics of our literature - Pushkin and Gogol, Blok and Gorky.
The samovar is poetry. This is good Russian hospitality. This is a circle of friends and family, warm and cordial peace.
A veranda window entwined with hops, a summer night with its sounds and smells, the beauty of which makes your heart skip a beat, a circle of light from a lamp with a cozy fabric lampshade and, of course... a grumbling, sparkling copper, steaming Tula samovar on the table.
Tula samovar... In our language this phrase has long become stable. A.P. Chekhov compares this absurd act, from his point of view, to a trip “to Tula with his own samovar.”
Already at that time, proverbs were formed about the samovar (“The samovar is boiling - it doesn’t tell you to leave”, “Where there is tea, there is paradise under the spruce”), songs, poems.
The newspaper "Tula Provincial Gazette" for 1872 (No. 70) wrote about the samovar as follows: "The samovar is a Friend of the family hearth, a medicine for a frozen traveler..."
The history of the Russian samovar is not too long - about two and a half centuries. But today the samovar is an integral part of Russian tea drinking. Samples of Russian samovars can be found on the antique market. The price of such samovars depends, of course, on the fame of the company or craftsman, on the safety of the sample, and on the material of the product. Prices for collectible samovars start at $500. The most expensive samovars are samovars from K. Faberge, prices for which can reach up to $25,000.
A samovar can create a surprisingly warm and cozy atmosphere in the house, add a unique flavor to family and friendly gatherings, and remind you of long-forgotten, but so pleasant Russian traditions.
Before the appearance of tea in Rus', the most favorite drink in the cold season was sbiten. It was cooked on the basis medicinal herbs and honey in a special vessel - whipped, somewhat reminiscent of a teapot. Inside the knocker there was a cavity for coal. 
Trading has always been brisk at Russian fairs ready meals, which were cooked right there in bratiny. Bratina is a metal vessel divided into three sections, in two of which food was cooked, and in the third - hot drinks. It is believed that Sbitennik and Bratina are the progenitors of the samovar. 
Tea appeared in Rus' in the 17th century, it was brought by traders from Asia. It was originally used by the nobility as a medicine. But by the 19th century, tea was slowly replacing sbiten and becoming the favorite hot drink in Russia. Along with tea, the samovar also enters homes. The pot-bellied samovar is the subject of many proverbs and sayings in Russian folklore, they sang about it in songs, and it becomes a participant in fairy tales. Famous Russian writers and poets describe colorful tea drinking from a samovar. Not a single folk festival is complete without a hot samovar. It was the samovar that became the symbol of a hospitable home. It brings a special flavor and comfort to the house. The samovar became a symbol of Russia; it was in every home, regardless of location and income. 
What is a samovar? This is a thin-walled metal vessel, inside of which a pipe is installed vertically, from the firebox to the burner. The firebox is attached to the bottom of the samovar. Through the grate in the pipe, a draft is created in the firebox. In village houses, the samovar pipe was connected to the chimney. If there was not enough traction or the weather was damp, then it was additionally created with the help of a boot, which was put on the pipe. When the water boiled, a teapot was placed on the samovar burner. The draft slowed down, the water boiled more slowly, and the tea brewed and infused. 
The Urals are considered the birthplace of the samovar. Documentary evidence from those times has been preserved, which states that in 1778 in Zarechye, on Shtykova Street, the Lisitsyn brothers Ivan and Nazar made a samovar in their workshop. The founder of this workshop was their father, Fedor, a gunsmith who worked there on copper. After 25 years, 26 people were already working in the workshop, including seven gunsmiths. At that time, it was already a factory. 
The samovars of the Lisitsyn brothers were known throughout Russia; they were made with soul and imagination. The samovar could be chosen to suit every taste: ordinary, with embossing, engraving, the most different shapes: barrel, round, egg-shaped, with taps in the form of figures of animals and fish, with various decorative elements. The Tula Samovar Museum boasts preserved examples of the oldest samovars from this and other factories. Over time, the production of samovars developed in Tula. This city has always been famous for its master gunsmiths. Despite the apparent simplicity of the samovar, the process of creating it is complex and time-consuming. To make all its parts required considerable skill. Samovars were made mainly of copper; they were often then silvered, gilded, and sometimes made entirely of silver or cupronickel. Technological process its production included 12 stages. By the middle of the 19th century, there were 28 factories producing samovars in Tula. These factories produced 120,000 samovars per year. Tula samovars were a sought-after product and decoration at any fair, and the city itself became the center of samovars. 
Over time, new types of samovars were created. Travel samovars appeared, multifaceted or cubic, with handles adjacent to the walls, with removable legs, kerosene samovars, they became widespread in regions where there was cheap kerosene, in particular in the Caucasus. These samovars were also sold abroad. Foreigners called the samovar the Russian tea machine. Years pass - the samovar does not age. The tradition of Russian tea drinking continues to live.
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