Abstract

The article considers a copy of the Book of Royal Degrees, unique in design and artistic quality, with a well-preserved, albeit very short (only two miniatures) cycle of illustrations. It was made by order of podyachy of Order-in-charge (Razryadny Prikaz) F.F. Postnikov-Parfeniev for a contribution to the Assumption Cathedral of Vladimir. Both of his miniatures are known to specialists, but have not previously been studied as plot and stylistically related images. The author of the article explores them for the first time in the context of the specific historical and literary narrative for which they were created, and the Russian artistic culture of the middle — second half of the 17th century generally. The location of the miniatures “Holy Princess Olga” and “Depiction of degrees” in the book code is determined by the composition of the text, but they are not its direct illustrations. They are assigned their own plot roles, and their symbolism complements and reveals the content of the Book of Royal Degrees in a new way. The study shows that the illumination of deposit manuscripts in the 17th century should be considered as a complex creative process, in which the artist and the customer participated to a different extent. This art required not only a deep understanding of the text of the book, but also the ability to flexibly use the iconographic schemes that had developed by that time, symbolic elements, pictorial and decorative techniques. 

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