"1 day - 1 exhibit": a ballroom book

Today we will go to the museum of Evegeniy Boratynsky, where a remarkable collection of personal belongings of the poet and his wife, in particular the ball book, a carne of Anastasia Boratynskaya, the II quarter of the XIX century.

When you look at the accessories of the XIX century, the purpose of many items modern man can not understand so easily. Along with decorations, jewelry and a fan, a special booklet was regularly taken to the ball, to which the cavaliers were recorded. Such books were called carne, from the French carnet de bal.

In the XIX century, each ball consisted of about 20 dances, and the gentlemen pre-arranged the ladies. In order not to confuse inviting cavaliers to the dance, their names were written down in a ball book. Carne was encased in a bone, silver or leather binding with gold embossing and inlay, adorned with precious and semiprecious stones, silk, embroidery, so they became works of jewelry art.

One of the precious memorial things stored in the museum is E.A. Boratynsky, - a ball-book of carnets, owned by Anastasia Lvovna Boratynskaya, nee Engelhardt, the wife of the poet. It was Anastasia who connected the life of Yevgeny Boratynsky with Kazan.

They met in Moscow in  spring of 1826, their wedding took place in  summer. In the dowry given to Anastasia, Boratynsky received the rich estate of Kaimara in the Kazan district of the Kazan province (now the Vysokogorsky district of the Republic of Tatarstan). In connection with the affairs of the estate, he and his family visited Kazan several times in the late 1820s - early 1830s.

The relationship between the spouses was full of love and tenderness. "Oh, believe me: you are tender, more precious than glory to me," the poet confesses in one of the poems dedicated to his wife. Undoubtedly, this miniature ball-book of turtle shell with exquisite inlay and monogram "AB" - Anastasia Boratynskaya was also a gift of love.

"Some ladies who enjoyed success left their books open, so that those present could see their degree of popularity," says Elena Skvortsova, a senior researcher at the Elena Boratynsky Museum, about the traditions of that time. - Anastasia Lvovna, most likely did not belong to their number, according to the testimony of contemporaries, she did not shine with beauty. For example, Vyazemsky, in a letter to Pletnev, called Anastasia Lvovna "a kindly, smart and kind girl, but not elegiac in appearance."

This was acknowledged by Boratynsky himself, in his poem "Muse" in 1829 they wrote:

I am not blinded by my muse:

She will not be called a beauty.

And the young men, seeing her, behind her

By love crowd will not run.

To attract  by  elegant dress,

Playing with brilliant conversation

She has neither a propensity nor a gift;

But the society   is struck by a glimpse of light

Her face is an unimportant expression.

Her speeches are calm simplicity;

And he rather than with  a caustic condemnation,

Will honor her  by  careless praise.

During the recent restoration of the carnet of Anastasia Lvovna, within the satin pocket the restorers revealed a touching inscription in pencil: "I love you very much," written, judging by the handwriting, by Yevgeny Boratynsky himself. Most likely the poet presented this ballroom book to his beloved after the wedding. This is indicated by the inlaid initials of AB. Anastasia is no longer Engelhardt, but Boratynskaya.

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