Turners of the Early Modern Period in Russia

Russia

• Frederick I of Prussia (1657-1713) –  An ivory objet d'art turned by King Friedrich I in Prussia around 1710 survives in a private collection. (Prussia encompassed what is now Poland, Lithuania, and Russia.)
• Peter I of Russia (1675-1725) – Peter I was an enthusiastic turner whose unique collection of machines is now preserved at the Hermitage. He owned a lathe as early as 1698 and, over time, amassed nearly 30 lathes. Various ivory objects turned by Peter the Great include goblets, candlesticks, measuring instruments and sun-dials, openwork pyramids with polygonal stars inside, scepters, columns and engraved snuffboxes. His successors to the throne, Katharina I, Peter II, Anna I, and Elisabeth also turned at the lathe.
• Andrei Konstantinovich Nartov (1693-1756) – Beginning in 1712, Nartov worked for Peter I, initially with the other masters Yogan Bleer, Yarii Kurnosyi, and Singer. In 1718, he was sent to study various scientific, mechanical and hydraulic models at the courts in England, France and Holland. Nartov significantly developed portrait (medallion) turning and, in 1720, presented the Royal Academy of Sciences three examples of the technique. In 1725, after the Tsar's death, Nartov was no longer employed by the royal family. In 1733, he began to record the Tsar's cabinet of machines as well as his own inventions in a manuscript which he completed in 1755. However, the book was never published and no copies were made. In 1762, several years after his death, his son had the original manuscript bound and dedicated to the Empress Catherine the Great who, like Peter the Great, was very interested in ornamental turning. The work titled "Theatrum Machinarum" presents the amazing mechanical instruments of the time, including 28 rose engine lathes, 4 lathes for oval turning and more. The lathes and machines that Nartov invented are kept at the State Hermitage, the Military and Historical Museum of Artillery, the Sappers and Signal Troops, and the Summer Palace of Peter the Great. The manuscript for "Theatrum Machinarum" is currently stored at the National Russian Library.

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