Rostov finift

The craft of finift came to Rostov from Moscow, where the masters of the Armoury Chamber practised the art of enamel. From the 18th to the early 20th century, Rostov enamellers were the leading makers of finift in Russia; their work was distributed among monasteries and reached as far as Mount Athos.

The painter works on a thin white enamel plaque, which is then fired and set in a copper or silver mount. Once fired, the colours do not fade with time.

From the 18th century most of the work consisted of inserts for church plate, icon covers, panagias and household icons. At the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries Baroque gave way to Classicism, and the Rostov school took shape: it is marked by deep pink, light blue and dark blue, and robes are often painted in dotted lines.

In 1911 a workshop school opened in Rostov, where teachers from St Petersburg and Moscow taught local makers portraiture, landscape and ornament. Today finift decorates jewellery, caskets and commemorative pieces.