Svetsi
18–19th centuries
- Iron, forging. 118 х 27; 121 х 31; 122 х 34
- ОНИ/М-76, ОНИ/М-79, ОНИ/М-826
Пост. в 1938 из ГЭ, ранее – в Музее ЦУТР; пост. в 1938 из ГЭ; пост. в 1943 из собрания В. А. Таубера (Ленинград)
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Location in museum
The Rossi Wing
Open the panorama of the hall in the virtual tour
Room 1 - Period 18th century
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Svetsi are the devices for fixing flaming slivers of wood. Svetsi used to be a widespread household item, a device to light the izba (a wooden hut). There was no hut without such a “lamp”. Slivers of birch or pine were put into iron svetsi. The metal pole, to which the holders were fixed, was sharp at the bottom in order to put it in a special support or to fix it in the log wall of the house. The poles were sometimes welded to the round bases. With their proportions and silhouettes, svetsi remind us of flowers on high stems. The flowers hide the slivers of wood in their shoots. The average height of the svetsi do not exceed 1-1.3 metres but they always seem to be higher reminding us of flowers growing up rapidly.
This impression is mostly encouraged by the proportionality of the curls fixed in pairs along the whole height. The upper part of one of the svetsi looks like a feminine figure. It might be the embodiment of Mother Earth, the image that symbolises Nature.