delicious recipe
resep masakan indonesia
resep masakan indonesia
Adi Sucipto News and Entertainment

Whom Are the Mice Burying? The Interpretation of the Lubok Print The Mice Are Burying the Cat

Aleksandra A. Pletneva

Abstract


The article is devoted to the interpretation of one of the most famous lubok prints (cheap popular prints) The Mice Are Burying the Cat, which was printed in different editions and versions from the beginning of the 18th century to the middle of the 19th century. The plot of this picture is under discussion. Some researchers view it as a parody of the funeral of Peter I, while others draw attention to the fact that the stylistic features of the early images and the language of captions indicate an earlier origin.

Our analysis showed that the epithets of Kazan (Rus. казанский), of Astrakhan (Rus. астраханский) and of Siberia (Rus. сибирский) used with regard to the cat clearly refer to the title of the tsar. This points to the fact that it is a tsar's funeral that the picture parodies. The captions depicting mice reflect the entertaining laughter culture of the second half of the 17th century. It is significant that the mice are carrying buffoonery musical instruments, they are dancing, drinking alcohol and smoking tobacco. The attributes of buffoonery culture and fun, which the tsar used to combat with the support of Patriarch Nikon, make it possible to bring the prototext of the popular print into correlation with a parody of Alexei Mikhailovich's funeral.

In later pictures, the plot-forming element is constituted by the indication of the areas the mice are associated with. Changes in a number of images, as well as the introduction of new toponymy, refer the viewer and reader to the funeral of Peter I, the ceremony of which involved a procession with the coats of arms of provinces. The proposed interpretation makes it possible to reconcile the two concepts and prove that this lubok represents a caricatural funeral of the tsar. However, in older engravings the funeral procession consists of buffoons, and in the later ones, it features representatives of different parts of the empire. In the first case, the tsar is Alexei Mikhailovich, and in the second case, Peter I.


DOI: 10.31168/2305-6754.2021.10.2.5


Keywords


lubok; folk engraving; laughter culture of the 17th century; early modern times; buffoons; funeral rites; folk writing

References


Adrianova-Peretts V. P., U istokov russkoi satiry, Russkaia demokraticheskaia satira XVII veka, Moscow, Leningrad, 1954.

Alekseeva M. A., Graviura na dereve «Myshi kota na pogost volokut» — pamiatnik russkogo narodnogo tvorchestva kontsa XVII — nachala XVIII v., XVIII vek, 14, Leningrad, 1983, 45–79.

Chentsova V. G., Paisios Ligaridis, Nicolas Spathar and Francesco Barozzi: the eschatological ideas at the Tsar Alexey Mikhailovich′s court, Drevnyaya Rus′. Voprosy medievistiki, 1(55), 2014, 69–82.

Emchenko E. B., ed., Stoglav: Tekst. Slovoukazatel′ (= Historia Russica), Moscow, St. Petersburg, 2015.

Faizov S. F., Kot Kazanskii: tatarin i tsar′ v vospriiatii russkogo posle «vziatiia» Kazanskogo, Astrakhanskogo i Sibirskogo khanstv, Kazan′ v srednie veka i rannee novoe vremia: Materialy Vseros. nauchnoi konferentsii (Kazan′, 24–25 maia 2005 g.), Kazan, 2006, 149–157.

Findeisen N. F., Schilderungen aus der Geschichte der Musik in Russland von der ältesten Zeit bis zum Ende des XVIII Jahrhunderts, 1, Moscow, Leningrad, 1928.

Francis E. P., Skomorokhi i tserkov′, Skomorokhi v pamiatnikakh pis′mennosti, St. Petersburg, 2007, 463–477.

Gorelov A. A., ed., Arkhangel′skie byliny i istoricheskie pesni, sobrannye A. D. Grigor′evym v 1899–1901 gg. s napevami, zapisannymi posredstvom fonografa, 1, St. Petersburg, 2002.

Gudzii N. K., Istoriia drevnei russkoi literatury, Moscow, 1941.

Ivina L. I., Sobornoe ulozhenie 1649 goda, Leningrad, 1987.

Kashtanov S. M., Sibirskii komponent v titulature moskovskikh gosudarei XVI–XVII vv., Obshchestvennoe soznanie naseleniia Rossii po otechestvennym narrativnym istochnikam XVI–KhKh vv., Novosibirsk, 2006, 3–21.

Khromov O. R., Russkaia lubochnaia kniga XVII–XIX vekov, Moscow, 1998.

Likhachev D. S., Panchenko A. M., Ponyrko N. V., Smekh v Drevnei Rusi, Leningrad, 1984.

O. V. L., Vavila, prp., Pravoslavnaia entsiklopediia, 6, Moscow, 2003, 470.

Pchelov E. V., Territorial′nyi titul rossiiskikh gosudarei: struktura i printsipy formirovaniia, Russian history, 2010, 1, 3–15.

Pletneva A. A., On the Origins of the Lubok Text The Register of Dames and Handsome Maidens, Slovĕne, 5/1, 2015, 366–376.

Pletneva A. A., Skomorokh i skomoroshestvo: k istorii slov i poniatii, V. M. Zhivov, Yu. V. Kagarlitsky, eds., Evoliutsiia poniatii v svete istorii russkoi kul′tury (= Studia philologica), Moscow, 2012, 93–108.

Sokolov B. M., Khudozhestvennyi iazyk russkogo lubka, Moscow, 1999.

Spathari N. G., Esteticheskie traktaty, Belobrova O. A., ed., Leningrad, 1978.

Uspenskij B. A., Tsar′ i imperator, Moscow, 2000.

Veselovskii S. B., Moskovskoe gosudarstvo XV–XVII vv. Iz nauchnogo naslediia, Moscow, 2008.


Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.




Copyright (c) 2021 Aleksandra A. Pletneva

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.