Filigree enamel articles

Filigree enamel is a type of decoration made of twisted silver wire soldered to the base to form a tracery, which is filled in with enamels then. The technique came to us from Byzantium in the time of the christening of Kievan Rus. Silver ladles and bowls often were objects of tsar’s special gifts in ancient Russia. The Russian silver items of the 18th and 19th centuries decorated with filigree and enamel were considered genuine valuables by tsar’s court , the nobility and church. And the first silver service was made by a nominal decree of Peter I in 1711.

Through centuries the techniques had been applied to make items for church and only at the end of the 19th century the famous Russian jewellers began to use them for items of everyday use. The articles with enamel on filigree tracery by Faberge, Ovchinnikov, Khlebnikov, Kurliukov firms became favorite diplomatic presents in the epoch of Alexander III and Nicholas II.

After the October Revolution jewellery production had practically ceased for two decades in the USSR. Nevertheless Leningrad’s jewellers kept the unique technique, retained it through the blockade, and in the first years after the war the production of silver filigree-enamel articles started again due to the efforts of well-known designer N.E.Fogt.