History of the samovar (10 photos)

“An hour of friendly conversations at the tea table!
The young mistress is honored and praised!..”
(P. A. Vyazemsky)

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.

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.

The 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, including 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 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.

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 teapots with handles began to be produced 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, its appearance and decoration changed in accordance with fluctuations in 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 camping 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 volumes of 12-15 liters were also produced for a large number of people. 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 assembled the finished products. Entire villages were engaged in the production of samovar parts all year round, with the exception of summer, when work was carried out 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: “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 - 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 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, and 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.

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
The fragrant tea was already running...