Scan is the oldest technology of jewelers to create jewelry and objects from thin metal wire. The meaning of the word “skan” arises from the old word “skati” (twist). It is from the twisted, twisted metal threads that the products in this technique are created.
Another name came from Latin - filigree. This Latin root is in many foreign languages for the name of such a technique.
Finding out what a scan is, one should not forget about the second term. In foreign sources (and sometimes in Russian-speaking ones too), authentic objects of ancient Russian art are described as filigree.
Forge or drag
Jewelry masterpieces created using the technique of filigree (filigree) were also before our era. The difference with the scan of Ancient Russia is determined by the method of production of wire from precious metals or alloys. Forged the wire or pulled the workpiece through the device for drawing - the result was a thin jewelry thread. In ancient Egypt and Greece, forging was used for its manufacture.
Old Russian masters of the tenth century received scanned silver and gold by the second method - drawing. What is a scan made many centuries ago is best seen in museums. They have magnificent examples of items of princely life and church utensils, decorated with fabulous ornaments. Clothing (boots, belts, etc.), salaries of books, dishes, crosses - filigree patterns flourished everywhere. It is worth recalling that the Monomakh hat is also decorated with a scan.
Russian masterpieces
Scan (along with grain) has become one of the most famous jewelry techniques in Russia. Workshops for the manufacture of jewelry and exquisite household items were at princely courts and monasteries. For many centuries, Russian jewelers have perfected this technology.
In the XVIII-XIX century, there were several factories for the production of filigree products. Real works of art from filigree - rings, rings, brooches, pendants, amulets, rattles. Even lornets and lighters were decorated in this technique, which was fully combined with the modern style.
In Soviet Russia, the high art of scanning was not lost. The gold medal she deserved in France in 1937 became evidence of international recognition of the Russian filigree. What is the Russian language, they know well abroad: Russian masterpieces have been repeatedly shown at international exhibitions. The cloth has always been considered a wonderful souvenir and gift. Openwork accessories, vases, caskets, cup holders and dishes add a special style to the interior of the house.
Currently, several centers are engaged in the creation of scanning and training in this skill. So, in the Nizhny Novgorod region there is the Pavlovsk College of Folk Art Crafts, and in the homeland of the Kazakov filigree there is an enterprise of art products. In the Kostroma region - Krasnoselsk school of artistic metalworking.
Artwork and Imitation Scan
Airy and elegant objects are created by the painstaking work of masters. Its beginning is a drawing, a sketch. A sophisticated product is thought out to the smallest detail. For a unique image, everything matters: the diameter of the wire, its smoothness or torsion, precise bending. Jewelers use special tools. Solder the parts after processing the pattern, laid out on paper, with silver solder.
Different types of filigree differ in the presence of a metal base or its absence, in the combination of a large number of individual elements. But all these methods fit the basic definition of what scan is: jewelry handmade with thin wire from metals or their alloys.
The use of additional techniques and materials serves as a greater decorative effect of jewelry. The tissue is flattened (with a ribbed surface). It is complemented by blackening, silvering, polishing, enamel. In the masterpieces of Ancient Russia, the scan, as a rule, was combined with grain (small metal soldered granules).
Cast openwork products are similar to filigree. But this is a false scan. The casting method was used in antiquity. The masters knew what a real scan was, but they practiced casting, repeating filigree patterns. This simplified the production of household and church utensils from metal.
Twisting one wire around its axis is called torsion, it is also considered an imitation scan used since ancient times.