The Material Environment of Scientific Knowledge Production: on the History of the Desk in Russia – МЕЖДУНАРОДНЫЙ ЖУРНАЛ ИССЛЕДОВАНИЙ КУЛЬТУРЫ

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Irina P. KULAKOVA
M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University
Building 4, 27, Lomonosovsky Prospekt, Moscow, 119192 Russian Federation
Associated Professor
PhD (History)
e-mail: kulakova.letter@gmail.com
ORCID: 0009-0006-7611-3513

The Material Environment of Scientific Knowledge Production: on the History of the Desk in Russia

Abstract: The article is devoted to the peculiarities of folding in the Old Russian tradition of writing practices associated with a certain material environment. The author resorts to reconstructing ancient Russian intellectual everyday life based on visual sources – images of a "scribe" in the pose of working on a manuscript (in fact, this is a composition reproducing images of Evangelists inherited by Russia from Byzantium). The preservation of the "scribe" pose in the Russian iconographic tradition has led not only to its stability, but – in following the pattern - also to the assertion of the pose and the real forms of the material environment of the writing process. The iconographic proximity of these images to the "cabinet" portrait of Modern times still did not allow us to see in them the manifestations of specific attitudes and consider these images from the point of view of the "otherness" of medieval discourses, on the one hand, and the specifics of the material environment, on the other. Attention is drawn to one of the engravings of the so-called Bri͡usov calendar of the early 18th century (prepared for publication by V. Kipriĭanov), which became the first image of a “cabinet” in the Russian tradition (according to the author). The basis for this image was the engraving “Cabinet” from the work of the Czech humanist teacher and educator J. A. Komenskiĭ “Orbis Pictus” (“Orbis Sensualium Pictus”). The image of the “school” (“classroom”) in V. Kipriĭanov’s Calendar differs sharply from the images of the organization of “lessons” (“schools”) that previously existed in Russia. Thus, the interpretation of the meanings invested in the images of “scribes” and the “study” of extensive visual material in its evolution allow the author to talk about the transition to a new, “office” type of images of the Evangelist as a “scribe” (at a desk) - not earlier than the middle - 2 th half of the 17th century. The use of engravings from the edition of J. A. Komenskiĭ by the publisher of the “Bri͡usov Calendar” of the early 18th century indicates the further advancement of the Europeanized cultural tradition in Russia.

Key words: Writing, scribe, Ancient Rus', Byzantium, Europe, knee writing, images, miniature, engraving, iconography, Evangelist, schools, school, J.A. Komenskiĭ, Vasiliĭ Kipriĭanov, Navigation school, furniture, table, music stand, office, intellectual activity, desacralization.

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For Citation:

Kulakova, I. (2023) The Material Environment of Scientific Knowledge Production: on the History of the Desk in Russia. International Journal of Cultural Research, 4 (53). 6–19. DOI: 10.52173/2079-1100_2023_4_6

DOI: 10.52173/2079-1100_2023_4_6