Wooden ladle from the collection of the National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus: to the discussion about attribution

Authors

  • Dzmitry V. Skvarcheuski Republican Union of Tourism Industry, 11 Niezaliezhnasci Avenue, 2 building, Minsk 220030, Belarus
  • Ilya S. Butov Institute of Art History, Ethnography and folklore named after Kondrat Krapiva, Center for Research of Belarusian Culture, Language and Literature, National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, 1 Surganava Street, 2 building, Minsk 220012, Belarus

Keywords:

ladle, museum object, iconography, applied arts
Supporting Agencies
The authors expresse gratitude to the National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus and personally to its general director A. Yu. Konanova for the assistance in conducting the research, doctor of science (history) deputy director for scientific and innovative work of the Center for Research of Belarusian Culture, Language and Literature of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus S. P. Vityaz for comprehensive assistance in conducting of the research, master of cultural studies leading researcher at the department of ancient Belarusian art of the National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus S. E. Chaus, PhD (arts) senior researcher at the department of fine and decorative applied arts of the Institute of Art History, Ethnography and Folklore named after Kondrat Krapiva of the Center for Research of Belarusian Culture, Language and Literature of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus G. A. Flikop-Svito, PhD (history) D. V. Liseichikov for their consultations during the preparing of this publication.

Abstract

This publication is devoted to the attribution of a wooden ladle with twelve anthropomorphic, zoomorphic and ornithomorphic images from the collection of the National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus. The authors attribute its manufacture to the period of the 15th–17th century on the basis of the analysis of the ladle shape. The artifact has no direct analogues in terms of shape and stylistics of painting and cannot be attributed to the types of wooden ladles known in the literature. According to the authors, the versions about its imported origin (from the territory of Russia) are not justified. The authors believe that it was made in Belarus. The secondary, now lost, polychrome painting was presumably applied to the ladle in the second half of the 17th – first half of the 18th century. The authors have introduced previously unpublished archival material into the research.

Author Biographies

  • Dzmitry V. Skvarcheuski, Republican Union of Tourism Industry, 11 Niezaliezhnasci Avenue, 2 building, Minsk 220030, Belarus

    PhD (history); vice-chairman

  • Ilya S. Butov, Institute of Art History, Ethnography and folklore named after Kondrat Krapiva, Center for Research of Belarusian Culture, Language and Literature, National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, 1 Surganava Street, 2 building, Minsk 220012, Belarus

    сompetitor at the department of folkloristics and culture of Slavic peoples

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Published

2025-11-19

Issue

No. 4 (2025): Journal of the Belarusian State University. History

Section

World History

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How to Cite

[1]
Skvarcheuski, D.V. and Butov, I.S. 2025. Wooden ladle from the collection of the National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus: to the discussion about attribution. Journal of the Belarusian State University. History. 4 (Nov. 2025), 41–51. DOI:https://doi.org/10.33581/2520-6338-2025-4-%p.