On May 25, four postage stamps dedicated to wood carving were put into postal circulation in the Decorative and Applied Arts of Russia series

Wood carving is one of the types of decorative and applied arts, an ancient folk craft.

In Russia, woodcarving was referred to as carving craft, and the drawing was called oznamyonka. Other names were fretwork or patternwork. At the end of the 15th century, monk Amvrosy of the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra combined Oriental, Western and traditional Russian ornaments in his works, and produced a great influence on the development of carving in the 15th and the 16th centuries. In the second half of the 17th century, German figured carving with Gothic motifs appeared in Russia.

Abramtsevo-Kudrino wood carving originated in the Abramtsevo estate near Moscow, in the village of Kudrino; its creator is considered to be Vasily Vornoskov. The carving is distinguished by a peculiar "curly" ornament: twisting garlands of petals and flowers. Of frequent use are similar characteristic images of birds and animals.

The most complex type of wood carving is sculptural. It requires the carver to have a three-dimensional vision of a figure, a sense of perspective and maintaining proportions. Its separate subtype is Bogorodskoe carving. Its center is the village of Bogorodskoe in the Sergiev Posad District of the Moscow Region.

Wood carving in the Tatyanka style was created by Shamil Sasykov in 1990 and patented as his own unique invention. Today, Tatyanka is a well-known brand that combines unique author's technique Tatyanka, a training procedure, professional tools for woodcarving, the sole woodcarving school in the world, and a museum with a collection of exhibits.

The chief place of origin of the Pomor dove, or the Arkhangelsk Bird of Happiness, is considered the Arkhangelsk Province. In the 19th century, a wood chip bird suspended to the ceiling was an indispensable attribute of a Pomor home. Manufacture of a wooden bird of happiness was mastered by craftsmen in many regions of Russia. Nowadays, the bird of wood chips has become a souvenir and is hung in the house as a protective amulet, a keeper of hearth and well-being.

The postage stamps feature articles made with different wood carving techniques: Bogorodskoe carving, Abramtsevo-Kudrino carving, Northern carving and Tatyanka carving.

In addition to the issue of the postage stamps, JSC Marka produced First Day Covers and special cancels for Moscow, St. Petersburg and Arkhangelsk, as well as unstamped postcards; an illustrated envelope with a block of four, a label and a First Day Cover with a cancel for Arkhangelsk, and the second emission type with the use of bronze paste and embossing.


Design Artist: Kh. Betredinova.
Face value: 30 rubles.
Stamp size: 37×37 mm, sheet size: 103×103 mm.
Emission form: a block of four.
Quantity: 40 thousand (the first emission type); 4.2 thousand (the second emission type*).
*To be on sale as part of an illustrated cover.

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