Old Believers' Traditions in Casting Copper: Restoration of a 19th-Century Folding Icon

DOI: 10.33876/2311-0546/2023-2/219-226

Abstract

Copper casting is widely used among the Old Believers for creating religious objects, especially those of personal use. The Old Believers’ branch of Orthodoxy formed due to church reforms that were followed by the Schism of the Russian Church and tension in the Russian society in the 17th century. The Old Believers, who desired to preserve old Russian religious traditions despite the small number of followers, also influenced some aspects of the Russian culture in general, such as the technology of icons manufacturing. Cast copper objects are also used in jewelry, for clothes fittings, furniture and interior, and create a certain style and entourage up to the present. The authors of this work investigated and attributed the fragment (the second section) of a folding icon found in Transbaikalia and cast in copper in the XIX century. The authors aimed to carry out restoration and conservation work not only to improve the appearance and preserve the exhibit, but also to get the opportunity to continue studying the lifestyle of the Old Believers, and the art of working with metal itself.