Vodka with a Kiss

Konstantin Makovsky painted Boyarina Bearing a Tray as a study for his monumental 1883 canvas, Boyar Wedding. This lovely portrait of a demure woman with eyes downcast, berouged in the medieval Russian fashion, represents Makovsky’s attempt to capture the essence of the Russian past, a past that many feared was being lost with industrialization, massive urban migration, and railroads that were changing the face of the Russian countryside. Like other iconic paintings from the 1880s, Makovsky’s work idealizes Russia’s distant past. But unlike such artists as Viktor Vasnetsov and Ilya Repin, Makovsky chose to portray not heroic scenes from his country’s history or mythology, but domestic, intimate moments, particularly those recalling the era of Muscovy (thirteenth to sixteenth centuries), when Moscow was ascendant.

In depicting scenes of everyday life, Makovsky paid great attention to detail; his use of color and brushwork deftly convey the intricate patterning of the boyarina’s dress. Here is the richly ornamented style of old Russia: the elaborate kokoshnik (headdress) is decorated with semi-precious jewels and pearls, while the gown is made of brocade and embellished with gold embroidery. Makovsky shows the boyarina resplendent in her wealth, an impression reinforced by his careful rendering of the finely wrought goblet of silver and gold that is borne on a hammered silver tray.

Makovsky was deeply interested in Russia’s material culture, and it is likely that he painted the goblet after an object in his own collection. Other paintings of his, such as A Cup of Mead (Charka myodu, from the early 1880s), depict additional specialized drinking vessels from old Russia that were used until being displaced by Western-style glassware under Peter the Great’s eighteenth-century reforms. The goblet shown here is a kubok, a ceremonial vessel reserved for special occasions and especially for the regalement of guests. The kubok varied in form: some had a broad base, others none at all; sometimes the bowl of the vessel was affixed to a pedestal. The wealthiest boyars ordered their kubki from skilled silversmiths, who decorated them through hammering or adornment with precious stones, jewels, or even tiny silver chains. Many of the best silversmiths were associated with monasteries. The vessels known as Troitskie sudy,¹ crafted at the Trinity Monastery of St. Sergiy outside of Moscow, were especially prized.

Makovsky’s painting is more than just a pretty picture, however. Boyarina Bearing a Tray actually depicts a curious cultural practice from medieval Russia, known as the “kissing custom.” This practice is described in some detail in the travelogue of Adam Olearius, secretary to the mid-seventeenth-century embassy sent to Persia via Russia by Frederick III, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp. Olearius writes:

The highest mark of respect and friendship they show a guest at a feast or in the course of a visit, to convey that he is welcome and that they approve of him, is as follows. After the guest has been fed, the Russian has his wife, richly dressed, brought out to the guest to present him with a cup of vodka from her own hand. Occasionally, as a mark of particular favor to the guest, he is permitted to kiss her on the mouth. This great honor was rendered me personally by count Lev Aleksandrovich Shliakhovskii, when I was last in Moscow, in 1643.

After a sumptuous dinner he called me away from the table and the other guests. He ushered me into another room and said that the greatest honor and favor anyone can be given in Russia is for the mistress of the house to come out and render homage to the guest as to the master…[H]is wife came forth. She had a very lovely, but berouged face, and was dressed in her wedding costume.²

Modern visitors to Russia frequently comment on Russian hospitality, which can seem excessive at times. But based on Olearius’s description, contemporary practices pale in comparison to those of the past. While I won’t go so far as to recommend a revival of the ancient ways, I do encourage you to bring out your finest goblet for an honored guest, place it on a tray, and fill it with some excellent homemade, flavored vodka. Even without a kiss, the gesture will be memorable.

Coriander Vodka 

Coriander seed was much prized in Russia for its digestive properties. Added to vodka taken in judicious amounts, it was believed to help settle the stomach. 

1 pint good-quality plain vodka

2 teaspoons coriander seed, slightly crushed

Place the crushed coriander seed in the vodka and allow to infuse at room temperature for 24 hours. Strain. Chill the vodka before serving.

Adapted from A Taste of Russia.

1. sudy is an archaic form of the modem noun for dishes, posudy. 2. From The Travels of Olearius in Seventeenth Century Russia, transl. Samuel H. Baron (Stanford University Press, 1967 [orig. pub. 1647]).