DragonThis abstract sculpture carved out of California Mojave blue chalcedony was created by the lap

DragonThis abstract sculpture carved out of California Mojave blue chalcedony was created by the lapidary artist Slava Tulupov. The last decades of the 20th century saw a renaissance in this traditional art worldwide, with fascinating abstract art taking its place alongside the more usual animals, boxes or cameos. The St Petersburg school draws on traditional Russian lapidary art as exemplified by the atelier of Carl Faberge back in the belle epoque, as well as more modern influences from the USA and Idar Oberstein in Germany. Tulupov was born in St Petersburg (then Leningrad), and started samizdat gem carving back in the days of the USSR, when it was illegal. Reading discretely circulated auction house catalogues to educate himself about the ‘Tsarist bourgeois art’ he loved, he studied jewellery and objets d'art as part of an architecture course. By the mid 80’s he had started making jewellery, and trying to learn the lapidary art. Despite only having one book and no equipment, he and a friend made their own gem carving machines. A few years later, people were mistaking his pieces for Faberge work. He moved to the USA in 1991, and presented a tribute to Faberge exhibition four years later.Dragon was awarded first place in the 199 AGTA Cutting Edge competition carving category in and first place in the 2005 Jewelry Olympus international competition in St. Petersburg. It has been exhibited in the Hermitage and Carnegie museums, among other places.LozImage credit: Hermitage museum.http://www.professionaljeweler.com/archives/articles/2000/mar00/0300gn2.htmlhttp://www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/04/2011/hm4_1_298.html -- source link

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