Toy Story: Royal Toys

The young heirs of the throne, for example, II. How do we imagine the childhood of Nicholas’ children? We always imagine that they are surrounded by luxury: Princesses are breastfeeding expensive porcelain babies, and princes play with an army of soldiers with beautiful details in those rare moments when they are not engaged in mastery of complex government. But in reality everything was completely different. And how – in the sixth issue of the toy story project. With love from Russia, Peopletalk will be told by Alexandra Novikova, Natalya Kurockinaa and Olga Kopylova, the creators of the first and only magazine about Russia and the antique babies in the world.

It may seem surprising, but the childhood of the last Romanovs does not look very different from the growth of modern children. The Empress Alexandra Feodorovna tended to see this stage of life as a special period that should develop a comprehensive way. And this is not only valid for education: there must be a place for both games and business. Many noble had similar ideas. The daughters of wealthy families learned daily life through play: they planted clothes for babies on miniature and full -employed copies of real sewing machines, ironed clothes with tiny ironing and cooked in small stoves.

Let’s destroy this legend: II. It is wrong to think that Nicholas’ children play only with expensive foreign toys. They had many toys for “daily game”; It was the same as the toys in other classes that children could play. For example, one of the ancient infant experts was sure: Tsarevich Alexei was playing soldiers with wooden needles with figures that resembled great chess pawns and had no common figures with a person. Such toys were created by craftsmen or small craftsmen in the Russian Empire. The truth is that the industrial production of porcelain toys was not available until the end of the 19th century, when Sergei Dunaev opened the baby factory. However, it should be said that the quality of the products is still significantly low than the foreigners, so rich people preferred to pamper their daughters with German and French porcelain babies.

Of course II. Nicholas’s children had foreign toys. Moreover, they often conducted real diplomatic missions. For example, Kaiser Wilhelm II sent porcelain babies from the Russian royal family to their small nephews. During the World Exhibition in Paris in 1900, Jules Steiner’s company presented a doll dressed like the Russian Empress to respect the Romanov family who visited the exhibition. However, infants with Russian motifs are not just a way to respect and establish a diplomatic connection. This is also a marketing tactic that makes it possible to attract the attention of buyers to buy a new doll in modern language. As a result, exotic outfit and attitude towards the historical event really attracted attention.

However, relations with the Russian royal family worked as a public relations move in the Russian Empire itself. “Antique Baby” experts note that: the competition between the doll stores was very large, the owners spent great efforts to stand out – the windows adorned with moving mechanical elements, barking the barking … But the main way to attract attention to your store is still the “Honorary title of the Imperial Court” Honorary title to the king, but also to the king of the king. an opportunity.

And then the history of Tsarist Russia ended – and at the same time the history of toys ended: After the revolution, babies, soldiers and other toys played by the princess and prince were distributed to orphanages and orphanages. “Almost” – because in 1918, the collector and art critic Nikolai Bartraram laid the foundation of the first toy museum in our history. Thanks to him, a horses and many other toys that were created from the middle of the 18th century, created for Paul I and passing through the Romanov family were preserved … And in our new issue, you will learn who Armand Marcel is, what he did for the history of toy, how you received the title of “Imperial Court Supplier” and which old antique toys.

Director: Stas Akhunov

View director of Denis Stetsisin

Photographer: Alexander Novikov

Scenario: Svetlana Danelyan

Production Designer: Anastasia Rzhevskaya

Fiction: Grigory Dikkert

CG Producer: Daniil Shchekin

CG supervisor/Art Director: Ivan Arkhipov

Visual Effect Supervisor: Stas Akhunov, Taina

Producer Assistant: Elena Borodina

Producer: Anastasia Fridman

Project Consultants: Editor -in -Chief of Antique Doll Magazine: Alexandra Novikova, Natalya Kurochkina, Olga Copylova

The project was created with the support of the Internet Development Institute (ANO “IRI”)

Source: People Talk