Ancient russian scoop (kovsh)
Workshops of the Moscow Kremlin, end of the 16th century.
Silver with gilding, engraving, and obron incising.
One of the museum's oldest exhibits is a scoop (kovsh) from the end of the 16th century. Forged of silver and gilded at the tips and along the rim, it is similar in shape to the wooden scoops found in the north of Russia. A lovely floral design of narrow leaves and blades of grass, as well as two medallions with a lion and griffon, are engraved in the gilded portions.
Along the external edge runs the inscription: "The Scoop of Boyarin Fyodor Nikitich Romanov. Drink from it in good health". Romanov was a well-known 17th-century figure, a Russian patriarch, and the father of Tsar Mikhail Romanov.
Such scoops, extremely common throughout ancient Russia, were reminiscent in form of a swimming duck. They first appeared in the Russian north where there were a multitude of lakes and water fowl. At first they were made of wood, but in the 16th and 17th centuries, the artisans of the Moscow Kremlin began to fashion them of gold and silver.
During feasts and weddings, dark mead was drunk from golden scoops, and light mead, from scoops of silver. There were several types of scoops, and their names depended upon the use for which they intended-to be carried out ceremonially at the beginning of great feasts or for use on the large princely estates of Russia or at funeral repasts. Since medals and governmental orders appeared quite late in Russia, a kovsh was generally awarded for heroism or other services rendered to the royal family or state.
