Sirenov, A. V. «Krabitsa» among the Utensil of Russian Tsars of the 17th–18th centuries

Sirenov, Aleksey Vladimirovich - Doctor in History, Institute of History, St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russia, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The paper is devoted to the royal insignia mentioned in the Russian literary texts and folklore of the 16^th–17^th centuries ― the cornelian box («serdolikovaja krabitsa»). According to the legend, it belonged to the Roman Emperor Octavius Augustus and, together with other imperial insignia was ceremonially presented to the Kiev Knyaz Vladimir Monomakh in the 12^th century by the Byzantine Emperor. The cornelian box («serdolikovaja krabitsa») has not reached the present time. The research literature contains a disagreement on the characteristics of this object. Some researchers regard the box as a jewel box, others — as a bowl. The author considers the references of the «krabitsa» in the Inventories of tsars’s property of the 17^th–18^th centuries. It can be concluded that in the 17^th century they named the jasper Bowl as «krabiza». In the 18^th century this Bowl wasknown as the Vessel for ointment. It was used at the coronation of the Russian Emperors. In the Inventories of tsars’s property called of the beginning of the 18^th century we find the term «krabitsa» in another context. The author supposes that it was the early medieval Reliquary. Later it was handed over to Kunstkamera end was painted in the 18^th century.

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