Sample of a cross

Ukranians

Russian Empire, Yekaterinoslav province, Slavyanoserbsk district, village The Third Company

late 19th - early 20th century

Decorations/jewelry

Metal: copper

length 8.2; width 6.3

РЭМ 1728-58

Sample of a cast copper cross. The manufacturing of cast decorations in the 19th century was widespread in Kiev, Chernigov, and Kharkov Provinces where the folk tradition of processing of precious metals (gold and silver), or goldsmithery, still continued to exist. This trade is believed to have originated in Ancient Rus, and existed up to the late 19th and early 20th century. Goldsmiths often applied casting techniques to the making of crosses, some kinds of earrings, rings, and bow knots for women’s breast decorations in the form of dukach coins. It was crosses that were in special demand with the Ukrainian population, as a part of the clothing set to be worn over clothes. It is believed that this tradition appeared in the 17th century, during the war of liberation from the Polish rule, when wearing a cross defiantly emphasized the person’s affiliation with Orthodoxy and had an ethnic and patriotic function. This tradition survived up to the early 20th century. The cast cross manufacturing technology was as follows: Melted metal was poured into a clay mold consisting of two halves, casts of a wooden model or of finished articles. When the mold cooled down, the billet was stripped of roughness and hardened in water, after which they proceeded to apply a pattern in addition to the cast embossed or indented patterns.